£70million Investment In Thames Valley Roads

14 March 2013, 06:00 | Updated: 14 March 2013, 11:01

Around £70million will be spent by councils on roads across the Thames Valley during the next year.

The money will be invested into work like resurfacing.

It’s after the recent heavy rain and ice caused a rise in the number of pot holes appearing.

The Basingstoke-based AA says around one in three motorists have suffered damage to their cars from potholes over the past two years.

A third surveyed also rated the overall surface condition of their local roads as poor, very poor or terrible.

AA president Edmund King said: “This spring our patrols are telling us that potholes are popping up faster than daffodils. This reflects the effects of very wet and frosty weather on poor road surfaces.

“Our findings are deeply worrying and show that UK drivers are once again experiencing a bad pothole season after a lull last spring - perhaps with worse to come.

“The slight let-up in potholes this time last year may have been just a blip in the annual pothole blight that seems to beset us each spring.

“Ring-fenced finance must be found to plug an increasing gap in highway budgets.''

The money set aside by local councils in the Thames Valley is being spent in the following places:

  • Reading Council: £1.63million – councillors will decide tonight if this should be invested into road resurfacing projects.
  • Hampshire County Council: £22million has been invested into Operation Resilience for 2013-2014, which is working on making roads more resilient in extreme weather and with increased traffic.
  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead: £1million is invested annually on resurfacing and planned carriageway patching and there is also a budget for repairs of £160,000.
  • Wokingham Borough Council: £2million of their revenue budget and £2.5million of their capital budget is being invested into highways maintenance during the next year.
  • Bracknell Forest Council: £800,000 is being spent on roads, footpaths and cycleways for the next year – a proportion of which will be spent on potholes.
  • Buckinghamshire County Council: £25million will be invested in the county’s roads over the next two years.
  • West Berkshire Council: £8.5 million has been agreed as the road maintenance budget for the next year.
  • Oxfordshire County Council: £28.7million was agreed in the most recent budget to be spent on highways and transport for the next year.