B&NES Council to spend extra £3m on road repairs

An additional £3 million of extra money for highways maintenance

will form part of the budget proposals for next year put forward by Bath & North

East Somerset Council’s Cabinet.

A decision to bring forward £500,000 of this £3 million extra

money in 2009/10 is intended to be taken by the Cabinet and follows urgent

meetings between the Cabinet and highways officers about the deterioration of

the network caused by the recent bad weather. This allocation enables highways

inspectors to carry out the Cabinet’s wishes of increasing the amount of

repairs immediately.  

The Cabinet is proposing that the remaining additional funding

will help improve and maintain road surfaces so that fewer pothole repairs are

required in the future to avoid a larger repair backlog and associated costs to

the local taxpayer.       

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Customer Services,

said, “Local councils across the country all face the same challenge which is

how to manage the problems caused by a highways network battered by atrocious

weather conditions for two years in a row.

“The AA has suggested that local authorities have an average road

repair funding shortfall of £6 million each. As yet, no additional funding has

been forthcoming from Central Government. The Cabinet is proposing an extra £3

million next year to improve the highway standards. This significant

eighty-five percent boost to the existing budget will help the Council react to

any immediate repairs required due to the bad weather and invest in planned

maintenance, like surface dressing, to prevent the future deterioration of the

roads which will save local taxpayers money in the long-term.”

In 2009/10, the Council will spend £3.5 million on improving

highway surfaces. For 2010/11 this figure is proposed to be up to £6.5 million.

The additional money is a one-off sum. The Council would like to spend more on

improving highway surfaces but is hampered by Government under funding the

Council on transport, for example there is a £1.3 million shortfall this year

on over-60s bus passes totalling a £5 million shortfall since the Government

scheme started. In addition to this, the Council is short changed by £2.5

million that Central Government’s own calculations say we are entitled to.

The Council will continue to press the Government to better

support local authorities financial pressures, which includes giving taxpayers

in Bath and north east Somerset the money they are entitled to for the Council

to increase investment in the roads even further.