MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Better Roads have called on ministers to make investing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money on local roads easier, after less than a third of local authorities reported using the cash for highways and billions were found to be left unspent.

Introduced through the Planning Act 2008, CIL is intended to help local authorities deliver the infrastructure needed to support development.

Despite this, analysis for the APPG for Better Roads states that only 30% of respondents to the Asphalt Industry Alliance's (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) 2026 survey reported using CIL funds for highway improvements, with just 14% using the funds ‘specifically on improving the road surface and structure'.

A new report from the APPG cites Home Builders Federation research showing that, despite a backlog of carriageway repairs over £18bn, more than £2.2bn in CIL contributions remain unspent by planning authorities in England and Wales.

To tackle this, the APPG for Better Roads report calls on Government to:

  1. Issue enhanced guidance to local authorities on how to lawfully charge and allocate CIL to make these funds available for improving the condition of local roads.
  2. Consider amending current CIL legislation to broaden the scope for funding from this source to be used to supplement ongoing road maintenance budgets.
  3. Encourage local authorities charging CIL to identify, publish and protect a defined proportion of strategic CIL for local improvements supported by greater collaboration between local highway and planning teams.
  4. Act on the guidance in the NAO's Improving local areas through developer funding recommendations to encourage more planning authorities to charge the CIL.

Rebecca Paul MP, chair of the APPG for Better Roads, said: ‘For those planning authorities that charge the CIL, it provides an additional source of funding that may successfully be invested in addressing the backlog of repairs and delivering smoother, safer journeys for all roads users while boosting productivity and supporting economic growth.

‘Importantly, utilising both existing and future CIL could support the Government's aims of improving local roads and addressing the backlog of repairs to tackle the ‘plague of potholes', without the need to secure any additional funding.'

The full report, Working for better roads: Community Infrastructure Levy funding: an additional revenue stream for highway improvements, is available to download here.