Salford Council is to spend £3.7 million on improvements to roads and footways over the next 12 months as part of aims to drive down legal claims for vehicle damage and pedestrian injuries.
The investment comes from the city council’s capital allocation from the Department for Transport for the Highways Investment Programme (HIP) for the year ahead as legal claims for damaged vehicles rose to above 40 claims last year and personal injuries climbed to nearly 60 from almost zero.
The council implemented a ‘network recovery plan’ in 2009/10 in a bid to arrest the deterioration of the highways. But since 2016/17 the authority has been consistently awarded less than it has bid for under the HIP, reports the Manchester Evening News.
It has asked for a total of £32.6m since then, but has received just short of £20m in that time. However, for the first time in the last seven years, Salford has now to received £3.7m – the amount it requested.
The allocation is being carved up into £2.5m for carriageway refurbishment and resurfacing and £1.2m for repairs to surfaces on footways and kerbing. A report to the Property and Regeneraion Briefing meeting said the number of legal claims against the city council fell when the HIP was fully funded, before 2010.
