Brakes put on call to fix county’s potholes
Winter cash goes unspent
roads Kinross-shire councillor Dave Cuthbert points to the bad state of his ward’s A Kinross-shire councillor has said he is disappointed a decision has been taken to place a £450,000 winter maintenance underspend back into the local authority’s reserves rather than be used to fix the county’s battered roads.
At Wednesday’s meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s strategic policy and resources committee meeting Independent councillor Dave Cuthbert suggested that savings brought about from the mild winter be earmarked for immediate repairs to the roads instead of being put away for potentially hard times in the future.
A significant underspend on gritting and snow clearing led to £450,000 being left unused from PKC’s revenue budget.
Councillor Cuthbert told members how on a drive along the A977 on Tuesday night he noted the lack of white lines on the road in his ward. Then that morning, he drove along Station Road – the main road into Kinross – and noted it was in a “terrible state of disrepair”.
Lib Dem Perth city centre elected Peter Barrett joined the call to fix bumps and cracks, saying the urgent need all over the county was “glaringly obvious”.
Noting that the council’s reserves were currently healthy, Councillor Cuthbert requested using the money to for roads maintenance instead of it being held back for next year.
Committee convener Ian Miller reminded members the figures being discussed were projections and it would be unwise to allocate money on this basis.
Councillor Cuthbert went for an amendment but – despite being warmly seconded by the Conservative Highland ward member Ian Campbell, who shared concerns that the roads were in a bad state – this was defeated by eight votes to six, with one abstention.
Councillor Cuthbert said: “I am disappointed that my proposal was rejected. The state of repair of many of the roads in my ward is worrying. Constituents are contacting me on a regular basis about issues concerning the condition of roads.
“I have had to replace tyres and front suspension struts on my car after hitting pot holes in the dark. I don’t know if the state of the roads in Kinross-shire is typical for Perth and Kinross, but I do think that something needs to be done about this urgently.”