More cash and community input for highway repairs in Wiltshire
The Council's setting up new 'improvement groups' across the county
A new network's being set up across Wiltshire with the aim of letting local communities have more say in what highway repairs and improvements should be carried out in their area.
Wiltshire Council's replacing its existing Community Area Transport Groups (CATGs) with what they're calling Local Highway and Footway Improvement Groups (LHFIGs).
There'll be 18 of them around the county, made up of Wiltshire, town and parish councillors, and local stakeholders for each community - and their job will be to identify small-scale local highways projects, to improve safety and encourage walking and cycling, and actually carry them out.
More money's being made available for the new groups too - £400,000 for all the groups, which will be split according to the geographical size and population of the area it serves.
There'll also be an annual pot of £250,000 a year from Wiltshire Council for the groups to apply for larger highways projects.
Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
“These new LHFIGs will build on the success of CATGs and enable communities to focus on the highways priorities that matter most to them. The new groups meet two key areas of our business plan – ensuring that communities are well connected and that services meet local needs.
“LHFIGs report into the local area board, so if anyone has any highways issues in their area that they’d like to improve, they should contact their local area board in the first instance for support and advice.
“This is far from just a name change, and what we’ve agreed will see significantly more investment into local highways.
“We look forward to the new LHFIGs beginning in the coming months, and for the first highways community priorities to be realised across the county.”