More Government Money To Repair Our Roads

20 March 2014, 11:12 | Updated: 20 March 2014, 11:30

The government's announced £16.1 million for road repairs in the East, and Norfolk and Suffolk's getting more than £6.5 million.

The Transport Secretary confirmed today that councils have received the money to help repair local roads damaged by severe weather.

The funding is part of £183.5 million of extra money the government's made available to help with much needed road repairs following the wettest winter on record. This is enough to repair an extra 3.3 million potholes.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Damage to roads causes misery for drivers and local communities and the severe weather over the last few months has made the problem worse.

“This extra money will help make a real difference to the millions of road users and residents across the east of England who rely on local roads, giving them safer and smoother journeys.”

The councils getting the funding are:

  • Bedford - £289,423

  • Central Bedfordshire - £467,714

  • Cambridgeshire - £1,531,297

  •  Essex - £2,700,386

  • Hertfordshire - £3,620,756

  • Luton - £120,72

  • Norfolk - £3,689,546

  • Peterborough - £325,057

  • Southend-on-Sea - £273,418

  • Suffolk - £2,944,452

  • Thurrock - £211,468

This extra money has been allocated on a formula basis, and is being handed out now to ensure councils can make use of it as soon as possible and complete works before the summer holidays.

The government fund includes £80 million made available especially for flood-hit areas to help repair the roads that received the worst damage during the severe weather.

It also includes another £103.5 million made available to all councils in England. This is in addition to almost £900 million already made available for road maintenance this year, bringing total government investment allocated to road maintenance to more than £1 billion in 2013 to 2014.

All local highway authorities will be required to publish information on their website by the end of August 2014 showing where the money has been spent.

Building on the funding allocated today, yesterday’s Budget included a further £168 million to tackle potholes on England’s roads.