Northamptonshire sets out spending plans

Northamptonshire County Council is set to increase road repairs by injecting new Government cash into improving highways infrastructure.

Recent heavy rainfall and severe winter weather has caused considerable damage to the county’s roads.

In recent years the authority has adopted a more proactive approach to road repairs and this has limited the damage the extreme weather has caused.

The Government has made £3.7m available for the maintenance over the next two years – an additional amount to the current budget of £16m the authority spends on preventative highways repairs each year.

Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, county council cabinet member for infrastructure and public protection, said: “We very much welcome this extra money from the Government which is part of a nationwide investment with the aim of helping councils to fund the repair and maintenance of roads which are experiencing increased deterioration due to successive severe winters and the recent heavy rainfall.

“We will use this extra money to continue with our good work of preventative repairs which extends the life of roads and therefore reduce the need for future full structural reconstruction works which can cost up to 10 times more.

“In this way the county council is able to improve value for money and treat more of the road network.”

The county council’s highways network covers about 4,100km (2,500 miles), over half of which is on the unclassified road network that are mainly the local roads in the areas where people live.