County’s roads to benefit from £3.6million investment

Local people and visitors are set to benefit from millions of pounds of extra funding to repair the county’s roads, following damage caused by the worst winter for more than 100 years.

Shropshire Council will receive £3,615,511 from the Government next week (beginning 28 March 2011) and has already started to put together a programme of works highlighting and prioritising the roads most in need of repair.

This extra money, announced in this week’s Budget (23 March 2011), is more than double what was awarded last year and will give a much-needed boost to the programme.

Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, said:

“This is fantastic news and I very much welcome this additional funding, which I know will make a real difference to local people.

“Due to our constant permanent repairs, our roads have faired very well considering we experienced the coldest December on record.  However, this extra money will help us to repair our roads quickly and keep the county moving.”

Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport and IT, added:

“Ploughing this extra money into repairing our roads represents a significant investment in road maintenance at a time when we are also looking to save a significant amount of money.

“Improving the state of our roads is one of our top priorities, and it is vital that we continue to invest in and maintain our infrastructure to support motorists and businesses.”

Although the council regularly reviews the condition of the roads, it also relies on help from local people to identify those which are in most need of repair.  Therefore, it is encouraging people to get in touch and report potholes online at shropshire.gov.uk/hwmaint.nsf, by emailing  customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk or calling 0345 678 9006.

It is also currently in the process of making it easier to report potholes so that it can concentrate on repairing the areas of road that matter to local people.