Extra £7m to Repair Devon's Roads
Devon is to receive nearly £7 million in Government funding to repair roads damaged by the winter storms, the Transport Secretary has confirmed today.
The funding comes after Devon County Council reported last month that at least 11,500 potholes had been reported on Devon’s roads in January and February alone.
The number of potholes reported on Devon’s 8,000 Mile road network is unprecedented and significantly higher than a normal winter which typically only sees around 2,000 potholes across a whole season.
Confirming the funding earlier today, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Damage to roads causes misery for drivers and local communities and the severe weather over the last few months has made the problem worse.
“This extra money will help make a real difference to the millions of road users and residents across the south west who rely on local roads, giving them safer and smoother journeys.”
To tackle the pothole issues the council brought in an extra 52 staff to carry out pothole repairs, bringing the number of teams up from 13 to 34 costing approximately £65,000 each week.
Potholes, however, are only part of the damage to the roads network as the council reported last month that they recorded more than 1,300 reports of fallen trees and branches on Devon's roads, more than 150 embankment slips and more than 4,000 flooding incidents across the county.
The massive scale of the damage from both this and previous winters however means that, even with the extra funding and changes to the Bellwin Fund, little impact culd be made to the authority’s estimated repair backlog.
The backlog which was thought to total more than £750 million before the recent storms but could now be significantly higher.
Speaking following the initial announcement last month, Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management and Flood Prevention, said: “The Government has said that it will foot the bill for the storm damage, but despite putting extra resource into repairs there has been a massive increase in pothole numbers, from about 2,000 a month in a normal winter to about 7,400 in January alone.
“The recent changes to the Bellwin rules have been helpful in reducing the trigger point for funding from about £1.7 million to about £1 million before financial help is available, and the qualifying period has been extended until the end of May.”
The council say that, Devon’s 8,000 mile highway network, the biggest of any authority in the country, needs around £64 million of investment a year to maintain its current condition.
More funding could be on the way however as yesterday’s Budget included a further £168 million to tackle potholes on England’s roads on top of the money allocated today.
Speaking today: Councillor Stuart Hughes, said: “To receive almost £7 million will help us in our efforts to repair some of the damage to Devon’s roads, which has developed due to severe storm damage and abnormally prolonged wet weather.
"The winter storms have hit our roads extremely hard and it has highlighted how fragile the network is. We have been calling for additional support after such a severe winter and while we have sustained more than £7 million of damage, this money will go some way towards covering the cost of some of the damage. We are already getting on with the job in hand, but even with this extra funding it will still take time to carry out the sheer volume of work that is needed.
"Government also announced a £200 million fund for potholes as part of the budget and Devon will be bidding for its share of this extra money.”
The funding comes as part of a 46.7 million of government funding to South West councils with the largest portions going to Cornwall County Council (£10.7m) and Somerset County Council (£12.3m) due the severe extent of the recent damage.
The money has been allocated on a formula basis, and is being distributed now to ensure that they can make use of it as soon as possible and complete works before the summer holidays.
This funding is in addition to the £10 million announced on March 6 to support The Somerset Levels and Moors Flood Action Plan.
Nationally around £183.5 million of extra funding has made available for the much needed road repairs, roughly enough to repair an extra 3.3 million potholes.
The fund includes £80 million made available especially for flood-hit areas to help repair the roads that received the worst damage during the severe weather.
All 116 local highway authorities are also required to publish information on their website by end August 2014 showing where the money has been spent.
More could Building on the funding allocated today, yesterday’s Budget included a further £168 million to tackle potholes on England’s roads.
The councils receiving funding in the South West are:
• Bath and North East Somerset £417,931
• Bournemouth £349,312
• Bristol £342,924
• Cornwall £10,758,008
• Devon £6,985,437
• Dorset £5,874,311
• Gloucestershire £3,308,360
• Isles of Scilly £80,827
• North Somerset £395,350
• Plymouth £1,573,772
• Poole £255,311
• Somerset £12,335,841
• South Gloucestershire £479,062
• Swindon £250,459
• Torbay £336,225
• Wiltshire £3,010,025
