Councils across England have been allocated their share of £500 million for highways maintenance, with the funding expected to fix the equivalent of 10 million potholes across the country. Warrington Borough Council will receive just short of £5.5m in funding in phases between now and 2022.
It is the second of 5 equal instalments from the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund, providing £500 million a year between 2020/21 and 2024/25, announced by the Chancellor in the 2020 Budget – and is part of wider funding the DfT provides for road maintenance, totalling over £1.1 billion across England in 2021/22.
With the average pothole costing around £50 to fill in, the funding will ensure that the equivalent of 10 million potholes can be rectified, making thousands of local roads both safer and easier to drive and cycle on.
MP for Warrington South Andy Carter said:
This is great news for motorists and cyclists across Warrington. I’m sure we are all prone to cursing as we stumble across potholes on the way to work, the harsh Winter has meant existing potholes are getting worse and new ones appearing.
As ever, I will be closely monitoring Warrington Borough Council to ensure it is spent on sensible projects rather than unnecessary consultations. We know where the hot spots are, Stockton Heath and Great Sankey are particularly bad, and a number of residents have emailed in over the past year so I look forward to the work getting done.
Transport Minister Baroness Vere said:
We know potholes are more than just a nuisance – they can be dangerous to drivers and cyclists alike, and cause damage to thousands of vehicles every year.
The funding allocated today will help councils ensure roads in their area are kept up to standard, and that the potholes that blight road users can be dealt with promptly.
The DfT has already invested heavily in pothole filling since 2015, including the £296 million Pothole Action Fund, which ran from 2015/16 to 2020/21. It also topped up highway maintenance investment in 2018 with a one-off £420 million boost to all highway authorities in England, including London.
The government is committed to supporting motorists. Through Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2), the government is investing £27 billion in the biggest ever roads programme – with £10 billion of the record-breaking sum specifically for road maintenance, operations and renewals.
