West Northamptonshire Council is set to invest up to £10 million additional investment into schemes aimed at improving roads across West Northamptonshire, subject to Cabinet approval next month.
The investment will enable West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) and its highways partner Kier to carry out works such as an extension to the surface dressing programme, the preventative maintenance works, an increased road resurfacing scheme and further surfacing of key paths. It will also be used to fund bridge maintenance schemes and an opportunity to trial an innovative surfacing technique (in-situ recycling) that reuses existing material to reduce both cost and overall carbon emissions leading to more sustainable repairs.
The funding will come from the Council’s capital budget which pays for things like improving local infrastructure. West Northamptonshire, in common with local authorities across the country, is experiencing a decline in the condition of its highway network and it is currently estimated that in order to halt the decline in the condition of the highway network an additional £8 million is required each year above the current allocation. If approved, the additional funding will enable a programme that see improvement across many parts of the district.
The additional investment will follow on from the £2.8 million investment which WNC made into purchasing new machinery in 2023, which has already made a significant improvement to repairs and increased the efficiency of the road maintenance across the area, while offering value for money.
Cllr Adam Brown, Leader of the Council said: “We know that one of the things that bothers residents the most is the state of our roads. That’s why we’ve explored every possible avenue to be able to invest more in the Highway network. This is only possible now because of the previous investment in new technology and the hard work over the past three years to create a financially stable Council.
“We hope that once the programme of works is concluded there will be a visible difference, and we will continue to explore ways to innovate and improve the way in which we maintain the Highway so we can do more of the same in the years ahead.
PIC-WEST NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNCIL
