An additional £140m is to be made available to councils to repair roads damaged by the bad weather, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said.
The government is to provide an extra £36.5m to areas with the most severely damaged roads, while a further £103.5m will go to all councils in England.
It would make "a real difference" for millions of drivers, the minister said.
The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the money but warned councils already faced a £10.5bn shortfall.
Mike Sergeant Local government correspondent, BBC News
Councils say a series of bad winters - some cold, some wet - has left the local road network facing a repair crisis.
Water from the recent flooding got into the fabric of many roads. But the cracks and potholes that have been exposed may be a symptom of a deeper problem - a lack of investment in maintenance over many years.
The government has now acknowledged the seriousness of the issue, and set aside an additional £36m for the councils most affected by the severe weather.
On top of this, all councils across England will get a share of an extra £103m. But the Local Government Association said councils were facing a road maintenance shortfall of over £10bn already.
They've welcomed the new money, but say "consistent funding will be needed over a number of years" for the road network to recover.
The government said it was increasing money given to councils where roads had been most severely damaged by £36.5m, to £80m.
Downing Street said the extra money brought the total government investment in road maintenance to more than £1bn in 2013/14.
'Smoother journeys'Prime Minister David Cameron said the government could afford to pay for the road repairs because of savings already made.
"It's because of the difficult decisions we have made on public spending that we can afford to repair roads damaged by the severe weather as part of our long-term economic plan to secure Britain's future and help hardworking people," he said.
The investment comes after the the wettest winter on record in parts of the UK caused widespread devastation to sections of the road and rail network.
The Department for Transport has said the additional money will be allocated on a formula basis and distributed to the majority of councils in England by the end of the week.
Work should be completed before the summer holidays, it said.
Councils will be required to publish information on their websites by the end of August showing where this money has been spent.
"This extra money will help make a real difference to the millions of road users and local residents who rely on local roads, giving them safer and smoother journeys," Mr McLoughlin said.
LGA environment and housing board chairman Mike Jones said councils had already expressed "serious concerns" about the impact this winter's extreme weather had had and said the investment was "good news for residents".
However, he said: "We do not yet know what the full bill for the cost of this winter's devastating floods will be, but we expect it to be more than £140m."
He said councils were already facing a £10.5bn shortfall to repair damaged roads, saying the problem had been "exacerbated by adverse weather".
Cllr Jones called for "consistent funding over a number of years" to pay for resurfacing projects allow the road network to recover.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Extra £140m to repair damaged roads
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2014/03/extra-a140m-to-repair-damaged-roads.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Extra £140m to repair damaged roads
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Extra £140m to repair damaged roads
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar