York City Council has promised to undertake a ‘year-round’ programme of road repairs, amid Government plans for tougher maintenance rules.

City of York Council environment lead Dave Atkinson said long-term improvements would be made to roads this year in a wide-ranging programme of repairs across the city centre, suburbs and villages, says York Mix.

Cllr Kate Ravilious, the council’s Labour transport spokesperson, said they were prioritising preventative maintenance amid a £102m road repairs backlog.

It comes as the Government announced councils who fail to demonstrate that they are maintaining roads effectively could lose a third of their national funding.

Councils will be required to show they are spending funding for roads as intended, or up to £525 million of the £1.6 billion Government repairs cash for next year would be withheld.

The government has also created a red, amber and green rating system grading councils and highways authorities based on how they are spending funding to repair roads. York’s council is currently rated amber which officials said was in line with the vast majority of authorities across England.

City of York Council has unveiled a programme of repairs worth £16.5m for local roads during the coming year.

Funding comes from the Government and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has also pledged £2.6m.

(Picture: Paul Hutton/Highways News)