GOVERNMENT DOUBLES POTHOLE FUNDING (Durham Liberal Democrats)

Durham Liberal Democrats <info@durhamlibdems.org.uk>

GOVERNMENT DOUBLES POTHOLE FUNDING

April 1, 2011 2:05 PM

Local councils are celebrating after the government doubled extra funding
for pothole and road repairs to £200m, with the rural counties receiving the
largest amounts due to the size of their road network. County Durham is
receiving £2.3m and Northumberland £3.1m and North Yorkshire £6.6m due to
the size of their road network.

Mark Wilkes, Lib Dem County Councillor for Framwellgate Moor Division in
County Durham commented "This is excellent news for our area. More than
double the funding the last Labour government gave to help, thanks to a lot
of pressure from Lib Dem councillors up and down the country."

"This should also take pressure off the funding for repairing footpaths,
which in many parts of the county are in a really poor state. I am
discussing with the council where this new money is to be allocated."

Lib Dem councillors have been putting pressure on both locally and
nationally to protect and increase funding for road and footpath repairs.

Fellow Lib Dem councillor Ben Ord, Spennymoor commented "I have now written
to government ministers on numerous occasions asking for extra help and it
is good to see that they are listening. Durham County Council has failed to
invest properly in road repairs for years and this is a welcome boost from
the coalition government.

"I expect the council to make sure that the repairs are properly carried out
and sealed to avoid repeatedly repairing the same defects over and over
again."

The extra funding will be welcomed by motorists who nationally face auto
repairs of over £1m every day from poor quality roads, and is in addition to
current government funding of over £870m already paid to councils from the
government each year.