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Posted: Sun 12th Jan 2025
Questions have been raised this week in Cardiff Bay over tight council budgets and how local road networks will be maintained.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales Ken Skates MS took question on the topic, telling the Senedd, “I’ve established a dedicated fund in 2025-26 solely for the repair of road defects on our network to maintain community connectivity. In addition, I’ll be establishing the local borrowing fund, which will allow much-needed funding in 2025-26 for the repair of roads and local authority networks.”
Carolyn Thomas MS asked, “In Flintshire alone, they’ve got a £3.9 million funding gap. Well, not a gap, but they need £3.9 million just to keep the roads in their current state, which is a £2.5 million gap this year from what they actually do have. So, it’s a big issue. So, I welcome any funding. It does take a while to plan the road maintenance and get contractors in to do that work, so they could do with an indicative budget, if that’s possible. I know we’ve got the budget-setting process, but they need to try and get programmes in place for this year, ready for a dry period. Is that possible?”
Skates replied, “Of course I’ll consider the delivery of that suggestion. If at all possible, we will deliver on it.
“I’d just like to outline just how valuable the local borrowing initiative is. Carolyn highlighted the challenge faced by Flintshire County Council, and that is reflected across pretty much all of Wales and the United Kingdom. Maintenance backlogs are something that affect all transport authorities in Britain, unfortunately. It is a symbol, a sign and a result of 14 years of austerity.
“The local borrowing initiative will enable local authorities to self-finance £60 million of road repairs in 2025-26. That is alongside the £25 million dedicated fund that I’ve established for repairs to the strategic road network. That £25 million will help to repair around 30,000 potholes on 100 km of road.
“If you then extrapolate out the figures, you can imagine that an extra £60 million for the local road network will fix something in the region of 100,000 potholes in total, between local roads and the strategic roads network. So, it is a huge endeavour to fix our roads, but we will work in the future with local authorities, as closely as we can, on co-designing the scheme and maintaining the scheme, if at all possible.”
(Top pic: Archive shot of potholes in Wrexham)
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