COUNCILS across the region have paid out more than £3m in claims to repair damages to cars sustained on local authority highways since 2015.

All seven councils in the North East have settled claims over car damage related to their highways. However, Northumberland County Council has forked out the most, with a compensation bill of just over £2m since 2015, accounting for around 66.5 per cent of the regional total.

According to Freedom Of Information requests, North Tyneside Council has paid out the lowest compensation. However, according to council chiefs, changes to its claims database and how vehicle damage claims are recorded it was not possible to search for claims before October 1, 2019.

The ascending list of payments by a local council since 2015 is as follows:

  • Northumberland County Council: £2,012,537.87
  • Durham County Council: £895,582.77
  • Newcastle City Council: £44,389.83
  • Gateshead Council: £36, 775.44
  • South Tyneside Council: £20,762.60
  • Sunderland City Council: £6,627.36
  • North Tyneside Council: £5,637.71 (from October 1, 2019)

Councillor John Riddle, cabinet member for Improving Roads and Highways at Northumberland County Council, said:  “Looking after road networks in Northumberland remains a key priority for the council and we are investing heavily in their repair, maintenance and improvement. It is a particularly challenging situation as our 3,100-mile road network is one of the largest in the northeast and covers a vast geographical area. 

“The winter weather, particularly in the higher areas has considerable impacts – and many roads simply weren’t built for the volume and weight of traffic that they are now carrying. We know from data from Department for Transport (DfT) nationally accredited road condition surveys that the condition of our roads is in line with the situation across the country. 

“Our main funding for highway maintenance comes from the Department for Transport and has been around £21m per year. In addition to this, the council has put in a further £17.5m in its own capital to improve road maintenance over the last three years and will be considering further significant additional capital funding for highway maintenance when setting its budget for 2024/25 and 2025/26. “

Northumberland County Council encourages members of the public to report defects on its highways on the new ‘Fix My Street’ platform, which can be found on the authority’s website. The council also states it continues to bid for additional funding from the government for its roads.

Newcastle City Council says that underfunding has left the authority having to prioritise spending as it says it has received insufficient cash from the central government to deal with the scale of the problem.  

The council also stated maintaining the road network is a challenge faced by all councils across the country.

A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “Earlier this year, the government announced an extra £602,400 for Newcastle, which we welcome, however, this still falls way short of the £184m that we need to carry out all of the required improvements across our network. This backlog is made up of £75m required for road maintenance and £109m needed for pavements.

“The shortfall in funding means we have had to prioritise the most urgent repairs and maintenance work to ensure that our limited resources are targeted to where they are most needed.”

Sunderland City Council ranked second-lowest in terms of payments, defended its “tried, tested, and approved system” of road inspections and repair times, going on to say it protected both residents and the “public purse”.  

Durham County Council explained that it regularly inspects and invests in its roads but the size of the highway network poses challenges.

In addition, Durham County Council stated the “level of payments” has generally fallen “considerably and significantly” since 2015.