A series of additional highways improvements will take place over the autumn and winter to enhance the appearance and condition of Surrey’s roads and pavements.    

Extra highways teams are being mobilised across the county to improve pathways, roadsides and rural areas. Activities will include cutting back hedges, clearing growth that might be obstructing pathways and road edges, and cleaning road signage.

Since they started earlier this month, teams have worked on 100 roads, cutting back 43km of hedges to clear walkways, removing 4km of weeds, clearing an extra 45 drains and cleaning over 50 signs and bollards.

As well as ensuring walkways are clearer, significantly cutting back hedges will encourage healthier growth by spring, supporting wildlife to thrive in the hedgerows. 

The first improvements have taken place in areas of Leatherhead, Guildford and Ashford with a full programme of works scheduled for the rest of the county.

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth said, “We recognise that the condition and appearance of our roads and pavements is a highly important issue for our residents. We have listened and will be dedicating teams to enhance areas of our communities that need some extra attention.

“Our full programme of works will include cutting back vegetation, hedge clearing, sign cleaning, weed control and removing detritus from pavements to clean up the highways network and get Surrey in a better place ahead of spring.

“We’ve also made some changes to our grass verge cutting programme to provide extra resilience and help us keep to the schedule more reliably.

“These new improvements are in addition to the £300m we have already invested in repairing and improving Surrey’s roads and pavements by 2028.”