February 7, 2018 9.45 am This story is over 73 months old

Lincolnshire gets an extra £1.7m to tackle 30,000 potholes

County roads are in a state despite the mild winter.
Pothole stock photo.

Lincolnshire County Council received an extra £1.7 million to fix some 30,000 potholes in the county.

This is on top of the £2.5 million the government gave the council previously for the 2017/18 period.

The funding comes at a time when roads across Lincolnshire are crumbling despite the mild winter so far.

There are already numerous pothole repairs and road works planned across major routes in Lincolnshire.

Richard Davies, Executive Councillor for Highways and Transport, said the council is repairing thousands of potholes every month, with over 4,000 dealt with in December alone.

“Dangerous defects are fixed as a matter of urgency, with other issues being prioritised and dealt with as resources allow. That way we can get the most out of the available funding.

“While this extra £1.7 million will make a difference, there’s much more to be done, and we would like to see even greater government investment in our local roads.”

But Councillor Davies refuted claims this week that Lincolnshire County Council is ignoring a large percentage of pothole reports after a website ranked LCC 190th out of 214 authorities because 1,744 potholes were reported, but only 191 (11%) of these were fixed.

“We spend around £50 million on highways maintenance each year. While this sounds like a lot of money, we have 5,500 miles of road to maintain and that funding will only go so far. That’s why we’re calling on the government for fairer funding for Lincolnshire.

“If councils here received the average funding for council areas in England, the region would benefit from £116 million of extra funding for services every year – some of which could be used towards highways repairs. That would make a massive difference.”