Councillors agree £32m investment for roads and transport
Lancashire County Council's cabinet has agreed to invest over £32m in maintaining its highway infrastructure over the coming year. Today's decision means the council will invest in work on roads, pavements, bridges, streetlights and other vital infrastructure across the county.
The programme focuses on tackling potholes – investing £15.2m in resurfacing schemes across Lancashire to address the roads in most need of maintenance and where highways teams have had to make repeat repairs, as well as preventative work to add years of life to roads before more expensive repairs are needed.
The highways budget approved today includes more than £3.6m of extra funding received from HM Government as part of Network North, which had previously been earmarked for the HS2 high speed rail project. The decision also comes in the wake of HM Government’s recent announcement of £494m of funding for Lancashire County Council to boost local transport, and a visit to Lancashire by Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP.
County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "Like the residents and businesses we represent, keeping our roads in good condition is the council’s top priority.
"At the moment, we’re tackling the potholes which have opened up as the result of a particularly wet winter, but today’s decision means we can look forward to work starting on these vital maintenance schemes as the weather improves in the coming weeks, and smoother journeys by the end of summer.
"Our long-term plan to improve the condition of our infrastructure means our A, B and C roads are now in better condition following a period of consistent investment, and now our focus is to invest in improving our residential roads too.
"It’s an exciting time for transport in Lancashire, and the significant highways investment we’ve agreed this week is another step in the right direction – making it easier for all of us to get from A to B, and boosting our economy in the process."
Notes to editors
If you'd like to localise your report, you can find full details of maintenance schemes for every road/district in the appendices to the report to cabinet report. See item 9 of the agenda.
The highways budget also includes £500k for maintenance to pavements, £1.5m for drainage improvements to prevent roads from flooding, £1m to replace road markings, £2.6m to upgrade streetlights, and £300k to inspect and carry out any repairs needed to roadside safety barriers.
One of the biggest investments in the coming year will see £5.6m of work to maintain vital bridges and structures. £780k of this has been earmarked for inspections and assessments to provide the evidence needed to effectively target future maintenance where it will provide the best value for money.
Within the £15.2m for maintenance to road surfaces, £3.4m has been earmarked to maintain the busiest A, B and C roads, and over £1m for rural roads, along with a further £822k for ‘moss roads’ which require special treatment due to the soft ground they’re built upon. £750k of this will also be invested in preventative maintenance focused on rural roads using a technique called spray injection patching, which uses compressed air to ‘fire’ bitumen and aggregate into defects at speed, with each machine able to achieve up to 200 good quality repairs a day.
Of the £3.6m extra funding received as part of Network North programme, £1.86m will go towards reducing potholes by addressing localised areas where concerns have been raised about deterioration of the surface, £500k will be used to fix drainage problems to protect roads from water damage, £1m has been earmarked to replace white line markings which are critical for safety, and £300k has been budgeted for replacing street lighting columns.
Picture caption: County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport