Kirklees has a staggering 900 MILES of pothole-riddled roads to repair

THE government’s road repair policy is stopping Kirklees from fixing 900 miles worth of pothole filled routes, a top councillor has claimed.

Kirklees Council has admitted it has an estimated £70m backlog in road repairs, mostly on minor routes.

The council’s cabinet member responsible, Clr Mus Khan, has now said she would love to focus on getting the borough’s back streets fixed, but her “hands are tied.”

She says government rules prevent the council from investing its roads funding grants in suburban “non-main” roads.

Clr Khan said she would be lobbying for more freedom on how to spend road grant money, following year-on-year cuts to roads funding since 2010.

She explained: “Money from government is allocated according to lengths of the different types of road and not factors such as population and typography – which are ignored.

“The government’s funding formula generally works in favour of Conservative rural areas, yet more revenue is generated in urban areas in the form of fuel tax and vehicle tax rates.

“Highways funding from government remains insufficient for the council to reduce the backlog of road repairs, which are estimated to cost over £70m.

“The resulting cuts reduce our ability to carry out the day-to-day repairs of the roads.

“In these circumstances, the council has to make tough decisions on which roads to repair first, balancing the need to invest in both the most dilapidated roads and prevent others from deteriorating too much to make the best use of the funding that is available.

“Our backlog of work is mostly for non-main roads (900 miles/ 1,450km in length), however these roads receive the lowest government grant per kilometre.

“All this makes it really difficult, because whilst the public and we know which roads are most in need of repair and maintenance – our hands are tied.

“I’d like nothing more than for the council to be able to take positive action on residents’ enquiries to address these needs.”

Deputy leader of Kirklees Conservatives, Clr John Taylor, said he was “surprised” by Clr Khan’s comments.

“The funding of roads has always been a combination of funding from central government, which is focussed on major roads and key travel routes, and local funding from the council tax revenues,” he said.

“The prioritisation is rightly set locally to reflect the local needs of communities and not specified by central diktat.

“Each council is able to make its own decision on how much funding should be allocated to highways maintenance as the needs of that community dictate.

“This council has year on year reduced the monies which it has allocated to highways maintenance, something which the Conservative group has been the only party to consistently oppose.

“When we have had decisions to make as a council on how to use any underspends, we have always sought to increase the funding for highways maintenance, something which Clr Khan and her colleagues have consistently voted against.

“For her to turn round now and try to suggest that somehow this is the government’s fault is beyond belief.”