Extra £3m to fix-up Buckinghamshire's roads
Bucks Council are also starting on a £4m project to clear out drains
An extra £3-million is going to be spent on Buckinghamshire's roads.
Bucks Council say this is on top of the £24-million set aside for streets and footpaths this year.
Meanwhile, a £4-million scheme to clean and improve drains across the county is getting underway.
Extra spending on road repairs
The extra £3 million is being set aside specifically so an extra £2.5 million can be spent repairing potholes with another half a million pounds to upgrade road markings.
The extra spending commitment recognises how big a priority it is for the council to maintain and improve the county's road network and will be funded using uncommitted earmarked reserves.
The potholes will be repaired using the so-called 'Plane and Patch' technique - a resurfacing treatment used to repair patches of badly worn road that complements the larger scale road-surfacing programme. Plane and Patch helps prevent roads from falling into a condition where they would then require more expensive structural work.
The additional £3 million investment means that overall, £27 million will be spent on roads and footways in 2021/22 and £100 million in total over the next four years.
Cllr. Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
"This is about us listening to what residents want and allocating funds accordingly. We all use the county's road network, and we all know the damage bad weather and heavy use causes. We know how our residents feel about it, so this is why we are acting.
"I'm pleased that unlike other places, and despite the financial pressures of the pandemic, that Buckinghamshire Council can draw on extra funds for projects like this. I hope the overall scale of the funding we're setting aside plus the additional £3 million investment shows everyone how determined we are to improve our roads.
"This is part of our wider investment in Buckinghamshire's roads - and residents are likely to see road maintenance crews out and about as well as signage highlighting our 'Investing in your roads' programme."
The road marking works will begin in September and the extra Plane and Patch works will start in October. All of the works will be delivered by the end of the 2021/22 financial year.
Clearing up Bucks' drains
The drainage improvement works are designed to help prevent flooding and to keep drains and gullies across Bucks clean, clear and operational. The Council has set aside an extra £4 million to fund the works, as part of a wider improvement programme for residents.
We will be cleaning every single one of Buckinghamshire's 85,000 plus gullies at least once. Critical gullies, that need cleaning more often to prevent flooding on the roads will be cleaned more regularly.
Keeping water off road surfaces means less rapid deterioration of the roads themselves.
As part of the improvement scheme, we will also be carrying out repairs to drainage systems where there is a known local problem, or where a problem comes to light during the cleaning programme. We will also be carrying out extensive ditch clearance as part of these works.
In addition, more than thirty major schemes are being designed and built to tackle some of the worst highways flooding trouble spots where the existing drainage is just not up to the job.
Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member for Transport, has been to Seer Green to see the operation in action. He said:
"We know flooding of highways is a significant issue for residents and we've allocated this extra £4 million to address their concerns. It's all part of our overall pledge to clean up the county - we want residents to be able to see and feel the impact of what we're doing.
"As in many other places, flooding and blocked drains have blighted people's lives during spells of extreme weather so we are aiming to do what we can to protect people from the impact of flooding on our roads and footways.
"For instance, on School Lane in Seer Green, flooding from the highway has previously engulfed the footway, making it dangerous and difficult for residents - including school children and their parents - to walk through their village.
"Our comprehensive programme will address issues like this across Bucks as part of our commitment to residents."
Upcoming drainage improvement works in the county include gully and drain clearance at Fieldhouse Lane in Marlow, Gorelands Lane in Chalfont St Giles, and Hivings Hill in Chesham.