£5m cash for potholes
Boost for road repairs and maintenance budget
PLANS to spend an extra £5 million on fixing potholes and maintaining Leicestershire’s roads have been unveiled.
The county council said it intends to use the money to prevent more potholes from developing in the first place as part of its ongoing resurfacing programme.
It follows a winter which highway department figures revealed 1,760 repairs were required to fix potholes and other defects.
The extra money will come from new investments, including rents from properties purchased over the last year, and comes on the back of an earlier
£8 million investment in highway maintenance, taking the total budget for 2018/19 to £24 million.
Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Although our roads are still some of the best around, our spend on maintenance is set to decrease by £7 million by 2020 following national funding reductions.
“The harsh winter has taken its toll. In January, we received three times as many calls about potholes compared with January 2017.
“And we recognise the cost to business and inconvenience to people who use our roads.”
Coun Pain said that each piece of preventative work can stop up to 25 new potholes forming.
He said: “This extra money means we can prevent more potholes occurring.
“And, importantly, it enables us to resurface and seal many more miles of road.
“So not only does this prolong their life, it improves journeys for residents and reduces the need for roadworks.”
Councillor Byron Rhodes, cabinet member for resources, added: “This extra investment in front line services clearly highlights the benefits of the county council’s asset investment programme.”
In the last 12 months, the council has used 2,300 tonnes of materials to fill 6,000 potholes.