An extra £10 million has been promised to fix Fife’s pothole-ridden roads over the next two years following thousands of complaints.
The pledge, part of Fife Council’s budget announced yesterday, will see repairs to roads and pavements across the region.
The joint Labour/SNP administration said the money was part of an “extraordinary budget for extraordinary times”. The priority is to help Fife recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, said the council.
SNP co-leader David Alexander said: “After many years of having to make cutbacks and savings, we have the opportunity this year to make some significant reinvestments in our services.”
Fixing the roads is one of the key issues and Mr Alexander said the need for additional funding was recognised. Repairs were significantly scaled back last year due to Covid restrictions and bad weather. Outstanding repair work will be tackled and extra money has been found for ongoing maintenance, said a report by the Courier.
Liberal Democrat councillor Jonny Tepp said the roads plan was under-funded by some £40 million over the next 10 years. “With the present plan, Fifers should not expect the roads and streetlights to improve over the coming decade,” he said..
As well as investment in roads, the council will tackle a backlog of work in parks, streets and open spaces.
Mr Alexander said: “For that reason it’s proposed to increase the number of seasonal staff employed on this work in 2021 by around 50%.This will have the added benefit of providing a number of temporary jobs to mitigate the immediate impacts of unemployment following the pandemic.”
An extra £5.4 million will go towards flood prevention and £2.9m to supporting the local economy.
