Local authorities in England have been told by the government that they must demonstrate ‘progress’ has been made on road repairs or face losing out on access to funding.
It follows the announcement of a further £4.8 billion in government funding for major road repairs and maintenance funding, with councils set to receive their share of a £1.6 billion highway maintenance fund from the new financial year in April.
But the government is now requesting progress reports from local authorities to ensure that targets are being met.
While the funding should improve road safety and fill around 7 million potholes, the significant backlog means councils are facing a challenge to get it all done in adequate time.
As we all know, poor road surfaces can cause havoc with road safety and cause untold damage to vehicles, something which we’d all prefer to avoid.
However, now that the government are focusing on outcomes, there’s hope that road surfaces (and therefore road safety) will improve in the coming months.
The idea is for fewer temporary road repairs and more permanent repairs to be completed as it’s not simply about hitting targets, it’s about improving driver and road safety in the long-run.
Do you think more needs to be done to improve road safety? And does the government’s new pothole repair programme go far enough? Let us know…
