The Lincolnshire highways boss said the authority is “holding the line” when it comes to maintaining its roads, however warned “winter is coming”.
Councillor Richard Davies, portfolio holder at Lincolnshire County Council, said the authority was continuing to press government for more money after the loss of a £12million cut in its highways grant this year.
The 25% loss was made up by the council using £2.3million of its own reserves and a 2% increase in council tax when it set up its budget for 2022/23, but Councillor Richard Davies told Local Democracy Reporters: “We can’t continue to do that. Things are pretty dire.
“We are barely managing as it stands. The lack of investment from the national government is a disgrace and it’s appalling when you see where some of the money is being spent.
“The reality is unless we get that money, then we are going to move into a period of decline,” he said.
Asked if the council was keeping up with repairs so far this year, Councillor Davies added: “We are holding the line at the moment as it were, but I’m afraid winter is coming.”
Cllr Richard Davies
The authority has previously equated the lost money to around 72,000 potholes left unfilled, or 111 miles of road left unrepaired over a three year period.
In 2021, it repaired 45,073 individual potholes across 10,368 pothole reports.
However, it had 15,144 reports in total with an average of seven potholes per site – a total of 106,008.
It means that two thirds of reported sites were fixed, but after investigation 42% of potholes that were found and needed to be filled were done by the end of 2021.
Some 1,819 reports were analysed and found to not need fixing following investigations.
The council continues to urge people to report highways maintenance issues via the FixMyStreet portal so that it can keep track of data more accurately.
It’s “Fix Our Funds To Fix Our Roads” campaign website also continues to urge people to report issues to both the council as well as writing to MPs calling on them to lobby government bosses.
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A brand-new exhibition coming to The Collection Museum Microworld: Lincoln, invites you to explore eight digital worlds by moving, dancing, singing, and playing.
Opening on Saturday 9 July 2022, the immersive exhibition Microworld: Lincoln, is suitable for all ages. Made up of eight digital worlds – or ‘ecosystems’ – this artwork is filled with amazing colours, patterns, shapes, and artificial creatures that you can design and interact with.
This exhibition offers something for everyone; kids can explore the digital worlds with energetic interactions such as dancing, jumping, and singing. Families are invited to work together to engage with Microworld and create their own micro-stories. Programmers and creative coding experts can investigate the interacting algorithms and set the audience additional challenges.
In Microworld: Lincoln everyone becomes a digital artist, with the ability to add their own ideas and creatures using smartphones or tablets provided in the gallery.
Jenny Gleadell, exhibitions officer at The Collection Museum, said:
“This isn’t really like anything we’ve had in the gallery before. It will be fun and colourful, totally interactive and immersive, and completely unique for each person.
“We were able to preview some of the themes and ideas around the exhibition at the Lincolnshire Show last week, and there was a real buzz of excitement amongst visitors about seeing it for themselves when it opens. I’m looking forward to people’s reactions!”
An exciting programme of events and talks will invite visitors to enjoy this world-famous artwork in a variety of ways. Three, monthly, late-night openings will bring the perfect summer social to the museum, promising something for everyone to enjoy. A very special hybrid event will take place in the gallery, where the visitors will be able to virtually meet Microworld: Lincoln artists Genetic Moo.
Those who are looking for a more relaxed experience of this popular exhibition will be able visit our ‘Chilled Out’ sessions on Wednesday mornings from 9am to 10am.
Find out more about the upcoming exhibition and events by visiting www.thecollectionmuseum.com, or by following The Collection Museum on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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