£1m funding for fixing Stockton's potholes, but opposition ask: 'When will you get on and fix them?'
Stockton is getting an extra £1m to fix its potholes, a leading councillor has said.
Leaders at Stockton Council were asked by the Conservative member for Fairfield, Councillor Jack Miller, what the council was doing to "tackle the potholes blighting our roads". He urged the Labour-led authority to "get on and fix" them instead of "wrecking things", while council leaders said they could not afford to fix them all because of funding which had been "woefully below" the cost.
Cllr Clare Besford, cabinet member for environment and transport, replied to the initial question at a full council meeting: "We are the local highway authority, and that means we take care of around about 860km, which is 534 miles, of roads and other related assets like bridges, footpaths, street lights, drains, signs.
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"Government funding for maintaining these assets has been lower than needed for so many years, and we've been doing our best to manage the backlog of work. I think it's fair to say the actual budget we've had is woefully below the cost of even maintaining these assets at a steady state.
"Thanks to the new Labour government, we have finally got the funding we need to really take action on them. From April there'll be an additional £1.6bn in pothole funding, which is almost 50% more than the Tories were planning on committing.
"For Stockton, that means around an additional £1m. We use a lot of well-known asset management methods to make sure our limited funds are used as effectively as possible.
"I would encourage every councillor, regardless of political party, to work directly with residents and report those nuisance potholes, either directly to their councillors or via the council website so they can be reviewed and classified."
Cllr Miller continued: "The Prime Minister's recently stated 'broken roads can risk lives and cost families thousands of pounds.' He further told councillors: 'Get on and fix potholes.'
"Thank you for letting us know that £1m is roughly what Stockton Council will receive. Unfortunately for residents and Stockton Council, the government is also holding back 25% of this funding until councils can prove they can be pro-active.
"Unfortunately for people in Stockton, this council isn't doing a great job. We're ranked 26th worst in the country.
"When is Stockton Council actually to get on and fix the potholes that plague residents on a daily basis, rather than follow the common Labour trait of just wrecking things?"
'Wildly inaccurate'
Cllr Besford responded: "I find Cllr Miller's comments wildly inaccurate. I think there are potholes getting fixed across the borough every week.
"The funding that we receive is not enough to cover every single pothole that we have. So we have a classification system.
"I think with regards to the holding back of funding, can I remind members that actually our transport funding is passported through the Tees Valley Combined Authority. I will certainly raise that question at the next TVCA transport committee. Hopefully I'll got an answer."
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