Councillors in Norfolk are calling for the leader of the county council to reverse his decision to scrap an £11,000-a-year pot of funding given to each of its 84 members for local road improvements.
The Highways Local Members Fund had been in place since 2017 at Norfolk County Council – until last month, says the BBC.
David Bick, Reform UK leader of the council, says they can get more “bang for the residents’ buck” by using nearly £1m of cash for projects regionally, such as resurfacing and filling potholes. However, councillors remain unconvinced. Among those frustrated is long-serving Thorpe St Andrew Conservative county councillor Ian Mackie, who says the move is “short-sighted”.
He said the money had helped deliver numerous road safety improvements, including new pedestrian crossings and speed awareness signs.
This year, he was hoping to fund a feasibility study for traffic improvements outside Hillside Avenue Primary School in Thorpe, following local concern about traffic management, but he has now been forced to scale the project back.
He said: “This would have been the first stepping stone to have something fundamental done. We ae really shocked this money has been withdrawn without any real justification and now it is having an impact on our local communities.
“They have cut their nose to spite their face.”
The £11,000 fund was started in 2017 by the Conservatives and it has been used for a range of projects across Norfolk by the 84 elected councillors. The money is drawn from the council’s highways budget, which set its capital budget at £60.8m last year.
The council has needed to make savings repeatedly year on year, with £33m of cuts announced in 2025 and £42m agreed this year.
At a recent meeting, Bick said the changes could deliver a 25% increase in value but added the decision could be reviewed if it didn’t improve performance on maintaining Norfolk’s highways.
Robin Hunter-Clarke, deputy leader, said the decision was “not about taking money away from communities”.
“This is about getting better value from the money that we spend,” he added. We’ve listened to the experts on this and they’re telling us we can actually fix more potholes, more resurfacing across Norfolk, if we do it this way.
“So let’s give it a go.”
(Picture: Norfolk County Cpuncil)
