Windfall for pothole repairs

West Berkshire Council has received more than £900,000 in a Government grant to get potholes in the district fixed

DRIVERS in West Berkshire may soon have much smoother drives on the district's roads thanks to a new grant from the Government to get potholes in the district fixed.

When George Osborne announced the Budget last week, there was a £913,257 windfall for the district's roads in it, more than the £450,000 that West Berkshire Council had been expecting.

Many of the district's roads were damaged during the last two exceptionally cold winters and the Government's move has been welcomed by the council.

It has indicated that it has now produced a works program in addition to its normal road maintenance that will cost about £1m.

Council spokesman Phil Spray said: “This extra funding means that a significant part of the snow damage repairs can be carried out without impacting on the normal annual repair program.”

The council's head of highways and transport, Mark Edwards, said: “This is excellent news and it is more than we were expecting.

“(It) will enable us to repair even more of the roads damaged last winter.”

The West Berkshire executive member for Highways and Transport, David Betts (Con, Purley-on-Thames), said: “I am delighted that the Coalition government has given us this extra funding. It will make a significant difference by allowing us to repair more of the roads damaged last winter, which was the coldest for a hundred years.”