Gloucestershire CC spending extra £1m on road repairs

Gloucestershire County Council will spend an additional £1 million on road repairs.

Through careful planning throughout last year, the council has a small underspend which it can invest back into frontline services. Acting on public feedback, the council has decided to allocate £1m of this money into highways which means that more work can take place to tackle road damage.

This comes in addition to £1m funding from the Department for Transport, meaning a total additional one-off investment of £2m will be spent on extra highways work this year.

The additional work, which will take place throughout the next few months, will focus on tackling pothole clusters and will be in addition to any existing schemes that are scheduled.

The cluster targeting will be primarily focused towards A and B roads, which are the busiest in the county and are vital to the economy.

Highways teams will be trialling new machinery over the coming months as well, including mobile asphalt mixers, in an attempt to get a more efficient pothole repair system and stronger repairs.

Cllr Vernon Smith, cabinet member for highways and flooding, said: "We're working hard to tackle the potholes and improve the quality of roads in Gloucestershire. We understand this is a priority which is why despite tight finances we are putting more money into getting this right. In this difficult financial time, it's not always possible but our careful financial planning has allowed us to make this one off money available."