Road maintenance receives £3million boost

Barrhead and Neilston are to benefit from an additional £3million of investment in road maintenance across the area.

East Renfrewshire Council agreed earlier this year to top up the existing annual roads resurfacing works programme with a further £15million over the next five years, and the thumbsup approval from councillors allows improvement works for this year to get under way.

The roads and pavements included in this year’s additional timetable of works covers a wide range of areas such as Commercial Road, in Barrhead, and Harelaw Avenue in Neilston.

All of East Renfrewshire’s roads are annually assessed and reported nationally and the Council’s A Class roads, which are deemed the most important routes for residents and visitors, are currently the best rated in Scotland, while B class are above the national average.

But results for unclassified, residential roads, which makes up around 80 per cent of East Renfrewshire’s network, indicates that these should be targeted for maintenance works.

East Renfrewshire Council leader Councillor Tony Buchanan said: “Improving the transport network is a vital part of encouraging economic growth and my fellow councillors and I are acutely aware of the importance which many people place on having well-maintained roads.

“These works will benefit residents, but will also support our work to showcase East Renfrewshire as an attractive place to live, work and visit.

“So, I am delighted that this additional funding has been agreed and we can get on with improving East Renfrewshire’s roads infrastructure and tackling the backlog of repairs.”

Environment Convener Councillor Alan Lafferty said the number of roads and pavements requiring repair far outstrips the resources available to carry out the necessary works.

“I am thrilled that we are able to further invest in roads across East Renfrewshire,” he said.

“It was important that all areas across the authority benefited.”