Council borrows to spend £10m more on roads

West Northamptonshire Council plans to borrow up to £10m to spend on schemes aimed at improving roads across the district.

The highway authority estimated that halting the decline in the condition of its network requires at least an extra £8m each year above the current allocation and that, the additional funding will enable a programme that will see improvement across many parts of the district.

It said the cash would allow contractor Kier to carry out works such as an extension to the surface dressing programme, increased resurfacing and further surfacing of key paths. It will also be used to fund bridge maintenance schemes and a trial of in-situ recycling.

The council said the cash will come from its capital budget, but the report to be considered by its cabinet on Tuesday (11 June) refers to ‘£10 million additional funding/borrowing’ and gives the additional borrowing cost to the authority’s revenue budget of around £470,000 a year.

The report states: ‘Historically the Council has received central Government support for pothole maintenance over and above the final settlement as part of the budget. Unfortunately, this was not the case this year and following a second very wet/cold winter, the road network has further deteriorated.’

Council leader Adam Brown said: ‘We know that one of the things that bothers residents the most is the state of our roads. That’s why we’ve explored every possible avenue to be able to invest more in the Highway network.

‘We hope that once the programme of works is concluded there will be a visible difference, and we will continue to explore ways to innovate and improve the way in which we maintain the highway so we can do more of the same in the years ahead.’