More money poured into filling Wiltshire's potholes

An extra £10m is being spent over the next two years

Author: Aaron HarperPublished 27th Feb 2024

An extra £10 million is being poured into filling potholes on Wiltshire's roads.

Wiltshire Council's made the additional funding available over the next two years in an effort to tackle potholes and prevent other road defects across the county.

It's on top of the £20.7m received from the Government’s Highways Maintenance fund for 2024/25, and the £5.2m from the Department for Transport’s recently announced Road Resurfacing Fund, following the cancellation of HS2.

The council's also allocated an extra £1m in its budget, which was approved last week, to empty gullies around the county to prevent flooding. It's hoped that it will enable teams to target problem areas that are most at risk.

That's on top of the £1.27m spent on emptying gullies already.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “While other councils around the county are cutting budgets, we are investing millions into the everyday things that matter to people, such as filling potholes, resurfacing roads and emptying gullies to help prevent road flooding. And that is on top of the tens of millions we already spend on these highways issues with Government grants.

“We have also recently invested more than £1.5m into painting white lines, renewing road signs, tackling fly-tipping and cleaning up litter – because we know that these are the things that people care about, and they’re the small things that improve their communities and make travelling that little bit easier.

“This is all part of our Business Plan commitment to have vibrant, well-connected communities and to invest in our highways network.

“The changes won’t happen overnight but, over the coming months, people in all areas of the county will see more resurfacing work, more potholes filled and more gullies emptied as this multi-million pound investment starts to bear fruit.”

To report potholes and other highways defects, people should go to: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywilts

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