Leicestershire gets almost £8 million to repair thousands of potholes - but it is £6million less than last year

Authorities say they this cut back mean they will not be able to carry out all the work they want to do
Almost £8 million is being handed to Leicestershire County Council by the Government to repair thousands of potholes across the county.Almost £8 million is being handed to Leicestershire County Council by the Government to repair thousands of potholes across the county.
Almost £8 million is being handed to Leicestershire County Council by the Government to repair thousands of potholes across the county.

Almost £8 million is being handed to Leicestershire County Council by the Government to repair thousands of potholes across the county.

The cash boost is being welcomed by the council.

But leading councillors are also warning that they are receiving £6 million less this year from the Department of Transport to spend on highways maintenance across the board.

And that almost certainly means that the hard-up authority will not be able to carry out all the work they have to do.

The county council filled in and patched up over 7,000 potholes last year.

And work teams have already tackled more than 1,000 across Harborough as well as county-wide this year already as the bitter wintry spell has wreaked widespread damage to roads.

Cllr Byron Rhodes, the county council’s cabinet member for finance, said: “The announcement of around £7.9 million from the Department of Transport (DfT) for pothole repairs is a welcome one.

“We continue to tackle potholes in the most effective way.

“Last year, we repaired over 7,000 potholes and we’ve already repaired over 1,000 in the first few weeks of the new year.”

But he stressed: “However, while the funding stream for pothole repairs from the DfT remains pretty consistent with previous years, the total amount we’ve received for overall highways maintenance across the county is £1.5 million less than estimated in our budget.

“And it’s a £6 million reduction on the funding we received last year.

“We’re now considering the implications of the funding reduction.

“But it will be very difficult to carry out all the maintenance work we need to do.”