Councillors in Buckinghamshire have today agreed an extra £3 million investment to improve the county’s roads, in addition to the £24 million already allocated to highways improvements.
The extra £3 million is being set aside specifically so an extra £2.5 million can be spent repairing potholes with another half a million pounds to upgrade road markings. The extra spending commitment recognises how big a priority it is for the council to maintain and improve the county’s road network and will be funded using uncommitted earmarked reserves.
The potholes will be repaired using the so-called ‘Plane and Patch’ technique – a resurfacing treatment used to repair patches of badly worn road that complements the larger scale road-surfacing programme. Plane and Patch helps prevent roads from falling into a condition where they would then require more expensive structural work.
The additional £3 million investment means that overall, £27 million will be spent on roads and footways in 2021/22 and £100 million in total over the next four years.
Cllr. Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “This is about us listening to what residents want and allocating funds accordingly. We all use the county’s road network, and we all know the damage bad weather and heavy use causes. We know how our residents feel about it, so this is why we are acting.
“I’m pleased that unlike other places, and despite the financial pressures of the pandemic, that Buckinghamshire Council can draw on extra funds for projects like this. I hope the overall scale of the funding we’re setting aside plus the additional £3 million investment shows everyone how determined we are to improve our roads.
“This is part of our wider investment in Buckinghamshire’s roads and residents are likely to see road maintenance crews out and about as well as signage highlighting our ‘Investing in your roads’ programme.”
The road marking works will begin in September and the extra Plane and Patch works will start in October. All of the works will be delivered by the end of the 2021/22 financial year.
