Council to triple road improvement money to help ease pothole crisis

Cash for road improvements in the district is to be tripled from £1 million a year to £3 million to help tackle potholes.
Coun Matthew Morley.Coun Matthew Morley.
Coun Matthew Morley.

The funding will come from Wakefield Council’s budget and a total of £15 million has been agreed, to be spent over the next five years.

Priority will be given to roads that have received the most complaints from members of the public. Ward Councillors have also nominated their own roads and footways.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Roads which have continuously suffered from potholes and been repaired too often will be included in the programme of works, undertaken in the next 12 months. It’s expected that properly funded, long-term repairs will ease the burden on the reactive repair budget which is spent on tackling potholes as they occur.

Councillor Matthew Morley, Wakefield Council’s cabinet member for highways (pictured) said: “We have listened to people’s concerns and to address them we have increased our spending.

“More investment supports the ambition we all have to stop our highways from deteriorating and bring about much needed relief from potholes.”

Work will include the maintenance and improvement of footpaths, footways, drains, bridges, street lighting and traffic signals.

However, the total cost of achieving a road network that has all areas at an ‘acceptable’ standard is estimated to be over £50 million.

Related topics: