Extra £100 million for road repairs

The Department for Transport has announced that a further £100 million is being given to councils to help repair potholes and protect local roads from future severe weather.

Announcing the funding, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said that the investment will help repair almost two million potholes, adding to the money already invested in road maintenance in the 2016 Budget and the £75 million given to councils from the Pothole Action Fund this year.

Grayling said: “People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family. We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads. We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

Additionally, the government is also investing more than £900,000 in innovations using connected vehicles to help councils more efficiently manage and plan maintenance works, aiming to enable authorities repair potholes before they occur as well as maintain their other assets more effectively as part of their asset management plans.

This will see Blackpool Council use £100,000 to lead on a digital inspector scheme with eight other councils, mounting high definition cameras on vehicles to collect data on road and path conditions, which is then analysed by computers to highlight where roads are deteriorating. The City of York will also get £72,000 to use a similar system to build on its pothole spotter trial.

Full allocation of the funding can be seen on the Department of Transport website.