English councils have been promised £140M in additional funds to repair roads damaged by flooding. Also, the pot of money to fix the most severely damaged highways has almost doubled.

The Transport Secretary announced the extra money on Sunday following the weather damage earlier this year. Of the additional £140M, £103.5M will be made available to all councils and funds allocated to a severe wet weather recovery scheme will increase by £36.5M to £80M.

Government says that road maintenance investment for the current financial year now stands at over £1Bn.

Additional money will be allocated on a ‘formula’ basis and will be distributed to most councils in England by the end of this week. To qualify for extra funds local authorities must publish details about where the money has been spent on their websites before the end of August.

The Local Government Association welcomed the announcement but said it expects the full bill for repairing roads damaged by flooding to be more than £140M.

“There is an even greater need for increased and consistent funding over a number of years for the road network to recover, such as investing in widespread resurfacing projects,” added LGA environment and housing board chairman Mike Jones.

The Highways Term Maintenance Association welcomed the increased funding promised by Government and urged local highways authorities to contact their HTMA partners so that work on the ground can start as soon as possible.

HTMA executive director Geoff Allister said: "It is a small but significant step in the right direction for improving the condition of the local road network."

CIHT welcomed the announcement but emphasised the need for consistency and certainty of funding to create a resilient local network.

Andrew Hugill, CIHT said: "Local highway networks are vital assets that enable the country to function. To create robust management of these assets there needs to be a move towards certainty and consistency of both capital and revenue funding over a sustained period." 

(Photo: Jean Frooms)

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