Government action needed to fill pot-hole black-hole
01/12/2009The Government has been called upon to help tackle the pot-hole problem which has resulted from the recent batch of severe weather.
In the wake of the unprecedented ice and snow experienced in recent weeks, the Local Government Association found that the number of pot-holes across the country has increased by a whopping 32 per cent.
The AA has estimated that the cost nationally of repairing the road damage caused by the bad weather could run into hundreds of millions of pounds and has said that it would be in the “national interest” for extra funding to be given to councils to help them catch-up with the backlog.
In Bath and North East Somerset, the additional cost of filling pot-holes following the bad weather is estimated to be over half a million pounds, on top of the work already being undertaken by the Council to improve road surfaces. The Council is currently spending almost £3.5 million to improve roads in the area, but local politicians are warning the Government this is now unlikely to prove enough.
Senior B&NES Conservative Councillor Vic Pritchard (Cons, Chew Valley South and Cabinet Member) said:
“The Conservative administration on B&NES has already invested significant sums to improve our area’s road surfaces, but following the bad weather there is a real danger this could no longer be enough.
“I too support calls for the Government to step in and help with emergency extra funding to help local authorities catch-up with this national pot-hole problem. The Council must play its role in repairing the road damage caused by the snow and ice, but this is an unprecedented national problem and so Government supported is clearly needed.”
