Road repairs programme announced for Pothole Action Fund

Devon County Council has announced the list of roads which will be repaired using the £1.95 million of capital funding allocated by Government within this financial year’s Pothole Action Fund.

More than 200 repair schemes will be undertaken on approximately 75 miles of road across the county using the Pothole Action Fund which the County Council received from Government earlier this year. It follows the Department for Transport’s announcement last week that Devon will receive £3.192 million from the Pothole Action Fund in the next financial year.

Each County Council division area is receiving at least £14,700 for repairs to ensure roads are repaired right across the county. The final allocations of funding for each area has then been calculated using pothole frequency data to ensure that more funding is directed to areas of most need.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “This programme of work has been drawn up with the help of County Councillors who have discussed the schemes with local highways officers so that priority sites are targeted in each area. We appreciate having this additional investment from the Government and we’re ensuring it is used as efficiently as possibly to have the biggest impact on our highway network. However, when you consider we have 8,000 miles of roads, the largest highway network of any authority in the country, we can only achieve so much with this funding.”

The bulk of the work will be patching, including in: Bendarroch Road in West Hill, Bourn Rise in Pinhoe, Brendon Estate in Sampford Peverell, Brinscombe Lane in Membury, Dockwell in Widecombe in the Moor, Four Ways Drive in Chulmleigh, Fulford Way in Woodbury, Hayes Lane in East Budleigh, Hoker Road in Exeter, Pretoria Road in Exeter, Princes Square in St Thomas in Exeter, Pye Corner to Jackmoor Cross in Broadclyst, Seafield Road in Seaton, Shelley Close in Alphington, Station Road in Teignmouth, Straycroft in Colyton, Summer Lane in Teigngrace, Twisted Oak to Blackdown Cross in Crediton, Vicarage Road in Cockwood, Victoria Street in Exeter.

Resurfacing and other surface treatments will be carried out in Allenstyle Gardens in Yelland, Chains Road in Halberton, Churchill Lane in Loxbeare, Fore Street in Harberton, Kiln Orchard in Newton Abbot, Langham Way in Ivybridge, Longlands Lane in Georgeham, Manley Lane to Rowridge Cross in Tiverton, Meavy Lane in Yelverton, Merrylees Drive in Barnstaple, Orchard Close in Shaldon, Rayners in Kennford, Salcombe Road in Sidmouth, West Down, near Combe Martin, Yew Wood Cross in Kentisbeare, and York Crescent in Feniton.

Devon’s £1,952,000 share of the Pothole Action Fund is in addition to £38 million capital settlement for road maintenance which the County Council has received from the Department for Transport for 2016/17.  However, approximately only £23 million of the £38 million allocation is available to spend on roads as the funding also has to pay for maintenance of streetlighting, traffic signals, bridge repairs, drainage, safety barriers and public rights of way among other work. This leaves an annual shortfall as Devon’s road network needs around £55 million of capital investment every year to maintain its current condition.

The Pothole Action Fund work has to be completed before April. The full list of schemes is available at: https://new.devon.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/maintaining-roads/business-pl...