Devon supports campaign for extra road funding
Devon County Council is backing a call for the Government to provide more funding for road repairs.
The Local Government Association is warning that underfunding of highway maintenance and the impact of severe weather could make roads across Britain unusable and further undermine economic recovery.
The LGA, which represents more than 370 councils across England and Wales, is calling on the Government to provide greater capital funding for road maintenance. It has written to Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, asking him to begin this process in next week's Spending Round.
Devon County Council is backing the campaign and urging the Government to provide urgent support. Devon is investing about £39million on planned road maintenance this year, but this falls well short of the funding needed to halt deterioration of the network. This is highlighted by additional reactive work to keep the roads safe, which has resulted in more than 60,700 potholes repairs across the county so far this year.
The County Council is receiving just over £6 million extra from the Department for Transport this coming financial year as part of its £39 million highway maintenance budget, and just over £3.2 million extra in 2014/15. The Department for Transport released this money following feedback on the increasing rate of deterioration of roads. However, planning for maintaining the network, which involves conditions surveys and cost planning, has shown that £62 million is needed to halt further deterioration. The situation is made worse by the significant flooding events experienced over the last 12 months, which caused damage estimated at £12.2 million.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “Over the past 12 months our local infrastructure has been devastated by flooding, and the extra Government funding we receive, while very welcome, only covers a fraction of the £12.2million of damage caused in Devon last year. We have lobbied hard to get additional support and despite receiving some funding the basic grant for highway maintenance has been reduced by Government at the worst possible time.
“With the Met Office predicting a greater possibility of more wet summers for the next 10 years, help is needed now more than ever to enable us to improve the condition of the highway network. The Government grant that we received in 2011 was extremely valuable alongside our own investment of an extra £7.6 million that year and a further £5million for C-roads and minor routes last year. That combined funding had enabled us to make in-roads in tackling potholes on our local network, and this demonstrates what can be achieved with adequate funding from central Government.
“The preventative maintenance strategy adopted by Devon is making sure that we get the best value out of our funding. A “worst first” approach has been demonstrated to be more expensive in the long run as it would allow roads in a reasonable condition to get worse such that they then need full reconstruction. The preventative maintenance approach includes a surface dressing programme, which restores surface texture, improves skidding resistance and slows water penetration into the structure of the road, prolonging its life.
“Devon has over 8,000 miles of roads to maintain, a larger network than any other authority in the country, so we will be keeping up our campaign to ensure that Devon receives as much help as possible in improving the condition and long-term resilience of our highway infrastructure.”
Last year 116,360 potholes were filled by Devon County Council, compared with 130,000 in 2011 and a record 200,000 the previous year.
