Councillor Chris Watts, the Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment and Transport, spoke of the financial challenges facing local government ahead of Wednesday’s (11 June) government spending review.
According to the latest industry research, it would take £17bn and 12 years to clear the backlog of repairs across England and Wales. In Swindon, it’s estimated it would take £51m to repair the backlog of works. This financial year the council have a budget of £2.75m to carry out priority road resurfacing and reconstruction work.
A spokesperson said: “Due to this limited budget, we can’t carry out all the preventative road maintenance that’s needed. This means that reactive work, including pothole repairs, is essential to address issues that pose an immediate safety risk in advance of when any resurfacing or reconstruction work may be completed.
“This £2.75m sits within a larger £5.3m funding allocation which covers a range of additional work including refreshing road markings and upgrading traffic signals.”
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