Hampshire’s roads have taken an absolute battering this winter. Weeks of relentless rain and violent freeze–thaw cycles have ripped open the surface across the county. Potholes are appearing faster than crews can fill them. Hampshire County Councillor Nick Adams-King has made the authority’s position clear in a long Facebook post headed: “The Brutal Truth”.
Among Cllr Adams-King’s points, in which he maintained that the council were doing their ‘absolute best’ to address the problem, were:
“We simply don’t have the money to maintain the roads to the standard we all want. The cost to bring roads up to the standard I’d want: £600 million. Highways budget this year: £60 million A £540 million shortfall No amount of “efficiency” fills a gap like that.”
“Why is the cash not there? Social care and education costs are exploding – and Hampshire is hit harder than most:
– By 2030, nearly 5% of residents will be over 80
– More children with Special Educational Needs than average
– Rising demand for disability support
– These services are legally required. If someone qualifies, we must provide care.
– And now Government ‘Fair Funding’ is removing almost £40million from our budgets and sending it to mostly Labour run councils in London and the midlands and north.
We’ve had 156% of our average January rainfall February’s average rainfall was exceeded in the first week alone.”
Other factors, he said, include:
• Repeated freeze–thaw cycles
• Some potholes appear overnight. Others worsen within hours.
• Hampshire faces a £500m highways funding gap
• Government funding this year: £30m
• We matched it but it’s still nowhere near enough. Only a tiny fraction of road tax and fuel duty goes to road maintenance. This is a national crisis, not a local failing.
As for what the council is doing to alleviate the ‘crisis’, Cllr Adams-King listed:
We’ve secured extra resources:
– More Jet/Dragon Patchers
– Extra patching gangs (started 12 Jan, more added end of Jan)
– More drainage jetting machines
– A dedicated flooding response team
– Extra white‑lining crews
(Picture: Yay Images)
