It is not sustainable to use council reserves to pay for a lack of road funding, according to to Lincolnshire Council’s Leader.

Speaking to his residents in the Grantham Journal, Councillor Martin Hill said: “Last year, we allocated £12 million from our reserves to cover the funding slashed from our highways maintenance grant by government. We have lobbied the transport secretary to reinstate this money for this year as it’s so vital to keep our roads maintained.

“Without this funding back, we will need to consider how we fund this. We know road repairs are a priority for residents and we want to protect this element of the budget as far as possible. However, using reserves – our council savings – is just not sustainable.

“We’re also continuing to work closely with our local MPs to stress the importance of rural areas getting the funding they need – not only for highways funding, but for other vital services too.”

He added: “We are expecting to soon hear from the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, about how the government intends to fairly share funds around all parts of the country. The levelling up white paper is scheduled to be published at the end of January and should give us a better idea about how we may be able to get more investment to our area in future years.”