DfT to give councils £100m to repair potholes

27 Mar 18

Councils in England will receive a £100m funding boost to repair potholes in the wake of this winter’s severe weather.

The Department for Transport has announced the cash injection of £100m, which is in addition to the £75m already given to councils this year through a ‘pothole action fund’.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling said, making the announcement yesterday: “People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family.

“We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads.

“We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

Areas that will receive the most from the pothole and flood resilience fund include Devon (£4.5m), the North East (£4.5m) and Norfolk (£3.5m).

Martin Tett, the Local Government Association transport spokesman, said: “The funding announced today will provide just over 1% of what is needed to tackle our current £9.3bn local roads repair backlog.

“Councils ultimately need the government to deliver a long-term, sustainable funding solution for our local roads that can boost local economies and deliver for our communities.”

The DfT is granting £30,000 to the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport to work on technological and innovative improvements to future-proof the local road network.

In early March, PF reported on the work councils were doing to tackle problems caused by storms, including gritting local roads.

The UK’s severe winter weather saw troops deployed to help NHS get to work.

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