£22.5m pothole allocation confirmed for West Berkshire Council

Over the next six years, the funds will be available to the district council as part of central Government’s Highways Maintenance Block Funding, which will see £6bn spent nationally on fixing holes and on improving infrastructure such as junctions, bridges and street lighting.
West Berkshire will receive a total of £22,520,000, equating to around £3.7m each year.
It will be classed as “locked-in” funding, meaning that it cannot be spent elsewhere.
Neighbouring Hampshire has been allocated around £140m, and Oxfordshire £87m, while Reading will get nearly £8m and Bracknell Forest £8.8m.
West Berkshire Council leader Gordon Lundie (Con, Lambourn) said that the money had already been proposed in 2010 as part of the local revenue grant strategy and that the recent confirmation of the total would not change the council’s overall planned strategy for maintaining its roads.
He said: “It is a fair amount, but we do have about half of Royal Berkshire’s land area and a lot of roads to be maintained.
“We got the money we expected to have and it is the right amount.
“There are a lot of B-roads here, especially in rural areas, and one of the things we are bringing forward is spending more money on street roads where it’s not normally a priority.
“These are roads where drivers spend most of their time.”
West Berkshire Council spokeswoman Peta Stoddart-Crompton said: “This could be considered old news insofar as our indicative grant settlement for the period 2015-2021, which was announced in early December by the Department for Transport, has been increased by just under £1m for the first three years of the five-year programme.
“Compared to our last settlement [in 2010], this is an increase and therefore new money.”
Explaining the rationale behind the confirmed allocations, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Roads play a significant part in everyday life.
“Poorly-maintained local roads, blighted by potholes, are a menace to all road users, particularly during the festive period, as people travel to see family and friends.
“It is vital we have good quality roads. This Government has already taken strong action by spending £1bn more on local roads maintenance than was spent in the previous parliament.”
The allocation, which was previously determined by central Government, is based on local need, with councils that have a larger highways network receiving more funding.
Also announced by the Department for Transport last week is a Challenge Fund, made up of £578m, which will reward councils who “demonstrate they are delivering value for money in carrying out cost effective improvements” and will be available from 2016.