Motorists are set to benefit from a £3m Government cash injection to support Derbyshire council’s fight to overcome pothole problems but the authority’s highways chief has expressed disappointment that so far the contribution is smaller than the previous year’s funding.
Cllr Charlotte Cupit, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, at Conservative-controlled Derbyshire County Council has previously apologised for the state of the county’s pothole-ridden roads which have been put down to reduced investment, ageing highways, floods and freezing conditions during the winter months.
And following £1.1m of work on a new asphalting road treatment programme and the introduction of a new pothole repairing material called Roadmender Asphalt, the council has announced that it is set to accept £3.014m of Labour Government funding towards roads maintenance and resurfacing.
Cllr Cupit said: “Although we do welcome this additional money, it is so far less than we were given in total last year.
“We know that the condition of roads is rightly really important to residents and, particularly given the weather challenges we’ve faced over recent years, we are trying to maximise all funding we currently have to have the biggest impact on permanent repairs and resurfacing.
“As we have been doing with the funding received last year, we will be focusing this money on the full resurfacing of as many sections of roads and pothole hotspots as we can.”
Derbyshire County Council rolled out £1.1m of work on a new asphalting road treatment programme across 63 residential roads during the summer and in addition to using a new process called micro asphalting, the council has been trialing a new pothole repairing material called Roadmender Asphalt as a possible additional option to help improve the region’s roads.
The latest £3m of funding is in addition to the base capital funding the council gets from the Government each year for maintaining roads, pavements, structures and all other highways’ assets and it has been earmarked for resurfacing roads and works to prevent potholes.
A relevant report will be considered for approval by the council’s Cabinet, on Wednesday, September 18, before making a decision on whether to accept the funding.
The cabinet will also consider approving the use of a framework to allow the council to procure various specialist products and services for the maintenance of the county’s road network to enable delivery of the capital programme.
It will also consider approving continued work on trialling new materials and machinery for repairing roads which will build on the Roadmender Asphalt trial.
The council has also stated it will continue working with other local authorities to share good practice and will use a new Innovative Procurement System to buy in more innovative maintenance options alongside the usual treatments already used on the county’s roads.
Alongside concerns about the latest level of Government funding so far, the council is also urging the Government to continue with the previous Conservative Government’s plan to invest an extra £8.3bn in the country’s roads over the next ten years.
Cllr Cupit said: “We are also disappointed that so far we have not heard if the current Government will stick with the previous Government’s plan to invest an extra £8.3bn in roads across the country, but we will keep raising this with the new Government and Regional Mayor and pushing for this urgently needed additional funding for our highways so that we can have a significant impact on improving roads.”
The latest £3m and £14,000 of funding is to come from the Government’s Department for Transport Network North’s reallocated HS2 Capital Funding pot for 2024-25.
Cllr Cupit has previously stated that in 2022 the council fixed 100,000 potholes and in 2023 it filled 90,000 potholes and she stressed the authority has been working hard to address problems.
