Government promise £140 million for flood damaged roads
An extra £140 million of road repair funding has been pledged by the Government this weekend to aid clear-ups following the severe winter storms.
The extra funding, announced by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on Sunday (9 March), will see a further £103.5 million of funding spread across all UK local authorities while another £36.5 million will be targeted only on the worst hit areas.
While it is still uncertain how much of this funding will be made available to repair Devon’s 8,000 mile road network, the extra funding is unlikely to make much impact to the authorities estimated repair backlog.
The backlog which was thought to total more than £750 million before the recent storms and could now be significantly higher according to Devon County Council, the local authority with responsibility for the road network.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management and Flood Prevention, said: “We’re pleased that the Government has listened to our pleas for assistance, and this is the sort of additional support we’ve been calling for. Any additional funding will be extremely welcome after such an extreme winter.
"Our roads have been devastated by the amount of heavy rainfall and flooding we’ve experienced. Our road network is vital to our local economy and with over 8,000 miles of roads we have a bigger highway network to maintain than any other authority in the country.
"Because of the extent of the damage to Devon’s roads, extra funds won’t provide an overnight cure but we’re cautiously optimistic that we will get a fair share to help with the recovery effort.”
The additional money will be allocated on a formula basis, and will be distributed to the majority of councils in England by the end of this week, to ensure that they can make use of it as soon as possible and complete works before the summer holidays.
In order to qualify for this extra funding, local authorities will be required to publish information on their websites by the end of August 2014 showing where this money has been spent.
Speaking after the Announcement, Prime Minister David Cameron, said: "It’s because of the difficult decisions we have made on public spending that we can afford to repair roads damaged by the severe weather as part of our long-term economic plan to secure Britain’s future and help hardworking people."
Yesterday’s announcement means that the Department of Transport has now promised more than £1bn for national road maintenance in 2013-14.
Over £80m of this funding will be targeted on the areas most badly affected by the flooding.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Having the right infrastructure in place to support businesses and hardworking people is a crucial part of our long-term economic plan.
“This extra money will help make a real difference to the millions of road users and local residents who rely on local roads, giving them safer and smoother journeys.”
The additional funding also comes as ministers confirmed that the threshold to qualify for Bellwin funding, the government’s emergency road repair fund, has been reduced and that it will cover 100% of costs above the threshold rather than the normal 85%.
A full review to make Bellwin funding “fit for purpose” was announced last month after criticisms from local government leaders that the system is “outdated”. However a firm date for the review has yet to be set.
Yesterday’s announcement also comes after January’s provision of a £7 million severe weather support package from Government to fund recover and repair work to local authority networks in affected areas.
Speaking at a severe weather conference with Communities Minister Brandon Lewis MP last month, Devon County Councillor Stuart Hughes with responsibility the road network said: “It’s encouraging that the Government is providing additional funding and that the Bellwin scheme will be reviewed, which is something we’ve been campaigning for, for some time.
“We need to see the fine detail of how this will affect Devon, and we must ensure that any improvements to the scheme make it fit for purpose for all local authorities. We want a scheme which includes the addition of recovery costs as well as immediate response costs.
“The critical issue of damage to the main line railway at Dawlish was raised at the conference and I’m pleased to hear that this is a government priority because we are all concerned about the effect of this damage on the Devon economy and that of the wider south west peninsula.
“Yet again we have suffered at the hands of the weather, while we’re still counting the cost of the storm damage in 2012/13, so we would like to see more of a commitment to long-term funding of highway maintenance. The DCLG has agreed to pass all our comments to the Department for Transport.”
