Member Article

Council pledge brings North Yorkshire road spending to £50 million

The County Council is to boost funding for North Yorkshire’s essential road repairs by a further £15 million - bringing the total of new money committed to highways maintenance this summer to nearly £50 million.

The additional £15 million, announced at the quarterly council meeting today, will support the Government’s recently announced provisional allocation of £24 million.

This follows the county council’s bid for funds to improve maintenance of the county’s rural roads network to help support the growth of rural economies.

The decision also comes on top of more than £10 million for potholes announced late last month, £5.2 million from the Department for Transport, matched by a similar amount from the County Council.

Alongside the Government’s £24 million provisional allocation, today’s £15 million boost is intended to ensure a long-term programme of additional highway maintenance through to 2021.

County Councillor John Weighell, the leader of the Council said: “North Yorkshire is the biggest county in size with a largely rural and dispersed population.

“For that reason maintaining our road network is vital if we are to support our businesses, attract inward investment and contribute to good quality of life for our residents.”

“We have been very fortunate that the county’s MPs have worked with us and we thank them for their hard work in helping to secure substantial levels of extra funding from Westminster.

“The further £15 million we have announced today means that in total, almost £50m of additional funds will be available for vital maintenance of our roads over the next seven years. This will make a significant difference to the extent and longer-term quality of the work we can undertake.”

Earlier this year, Councillor Weighell met the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, after sending him a personal letter outlining the nature and scale of the financial challenges facing North Yorkshire’s highways maintenance operations and seeking Government aid to maintain and improve the rural network.

Councillor Weighell added, “We have an extensive road network, that has been badly hit by some extreme weather, and this new funding won’t deal with every issue. However, over the next six years, it will make a welcome impact.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .