Council to lobby Government over roads

 

Cheshire East Council is to lobby Government for additional funding to help repair roads damaged during the recent downpours.

Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member in charge of environmental services, said: “Cheshire East Council’s emergency teams reacted swiftly in the face of extreme weather and they carried out a superb job in getting sandbags to residents and businesses.

“The professionalism and passion of our staff averted some very serious situations and my thanks go out to all of them.

“Granted, our Borough did not suffer like other areas that have made national news headlines but we are now left with some roads having been literally washed away. 

“The borough’s urban and rural roads have suffered three consecutive harsh winters and pot holes are appearing at a rate faster than can be filled.

"We estimate that by the end of the year, the Borough will have recorded over 30,000 pot holes on the network and have had to divert vital resources from other parts of the Highway budget to make sure that roads remain safe for all road users. Each pothole repair costs on average £50. That represents a lot of money and manpower and we should not be expected to cope with this alone."

“Let me assure residents that our leader Councillor Michael Jones and I will be knocking on the door of Government very loudly with a good business case as to why we need money to make our roads safe and passable.

“While we have a statutory duty to repair our roads, we also have a statutory duty to make sure that we are properly funded from central Government for this purpose.

“This will be my personal challenge before we move ahead into the next winter.”