Member Article

Motorists’ joy as Warrington drives ahead £40 million programme tackling ‘tyresome’ holes

Warrington Council has announced that it will address the problem of potholes across the borough – and is prepared to spend to do so.

The authority says it will be making major funding available from its capital programme budget – some £40 million over the next three to five years – to roll out a major programme of road resurfacing across the borough.

The council will also be able to take advantage of an extra £313,000 from the Department for Transport, which has been allocated due to the effects of the recent wet winter.

The council’s executive board member for highways, Cllr Linda Dirir, said : “We’re aiming to deliver a step-change in the condition of Warrington’s highways and footways. Every road and pavement that’s in poor condition will be resurfaced over the next three to five years.

“This is an invest-to-save scheme as it will save money in our revenue budget and it will reduce insurance claims against the council.”

“We’ll bring Warrington’s roads and pavements up to the standard we would all expect”

Cllr Dirir added: “Recent poor winters have caused us problems with our road surfaces, and the problems have been made worse by reductions in our overall funding from the government.

“We’ve had to fill in more than 7,000 potholes in the last year alone and we’ve resurfaced the equivalent of eleven and a half miles of road.

“This year we’ve managed to allocate an extra £3 million, on top of the £2.4 million allocation from the Department for Transport’s local transport plan.

“But the council has decided that we’ve got to take the bull by the horns and make this issue an even bigger priority. So we’ll be making extra cash available during the next three years. We’ll be using this money to bring Warrington’s roads and pavements up to the standard we would all expect.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .