Council 'disappointed' with extra £3m funding for road repairs

Derbyshire County Council has been awarded an extra £3 million to tackle potholes and resurface roads, but it has left a sour taste for some.

Although the money is in on top of standard Government funding, Councillor Charlotte Cupit, DCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport says it is still less than they need. 

“Although we do welcome this additional money, it is so far less than we were given in total last year. 

“We know that the condition of roads is rightly really important to residents and, particularly given the weather challenges we’ve faced over recent years, we are trying to maximise all funding we currently must have the biggest impact on permanent repairs and resurfacing. 

“As we have been doing with the funding received last year, we will be focusing this money on the full resurfacing of as many sections of roads and pothole hotspots as we can. 

“We are also disappointed that so far we have not heard if the current Government will stick with the previous Government’s plan to invest an extra £8.3 billion in roads across the country, but we will keep raising this with the new Government and Regional Mayor and pushing for this urgently needed additional funding for our highways so that we can have a significant impact on improving roads.” 

DCC’s cabinet is also seeking approval to carry on trialling new machinery and materials for road repairs. 

This is alongside the Roadmender trial that launched in August, which uses recycled rubber manufactured in Sheffield from HGV tyres to fill in potholes.