Jack Thomson

RENFREWSHIRE Council’s roads chief has said his team is “always looking to be innovative” after an elected member asked how they plan to deal with the “ever-growing problem” of potholes.

Councillor Iain McMillan, Labour group leader and representative for Johnstone South and Elderslie, said he has been “inundated” with recent complaints about the state of the area’s crumbling carriageways.

And the veteran politician questioned the department on how it can effectively tackle the problem “with less money to spend,” after £5million was earmarked for roads and footpaths in the year ahead, compared to £6.7m for 2023/24.

He told a meeting of the infrastructure, land and environment policy board: “As we know, in the recent budget, there was a cut compared with last year’s spending on roads and footpaths.

“Can I ask the officers, with less money to spend, how are they going to deal with the evergrowing problem of potholes?

“I think I’m not alone in this room in saying that I’ve been inundated with complaints recently about potholes. I’m sure everybody’s exactly the same.

“With less money, how are we going to do more? I do know we’ve got better machinery, so hopefully that will help.”

Councillor Michelle Campbell, board convener and SNP representative for Erskine and Inchinnan, said she took “slight umbrage” with Councillor McMillan’s reference to the earmarked funds as a “cut.”

“It’s an ongoing investment,” she said. “I do appreciate the SNP’s is a rolling administration, so it’s a unique position in that respect...but we did put [in] record investment.

“The number of roads that are sitting within a better class, we’ve fundamentally improved vastly from where we’ve been in the ranking tables. I don’t have the exact positions off the top of my head.

“However, the amount that’s there is going to make a difference to roads and I’m glad to see that Labour have finally agreed the importance of having that vast road infrastructure investment, which we have done on a