Mixed reactions to £1.5 million Shropshire pothole cash from government

Details have been announced of what the extra £3 billion pledged for transport in the Government's autumn statement will be spent on, and it is nothing but good news for Shropshire, a council leader has said.

But a six-figure settlement to tackle potholes on the roads of Telford does not go far enough, Telford & Wrekin Council claimed today.

Telford & Wrekin Council will get £250,000 to spend on potholes in the next financial year, up on the £176,000 it got this year, while Shropshire Council will get £1.3m, up from £1m.

The extra £74,000 pledged to tackle potholes in the Telford & Wrekin Council has been welcomed, but is not enough to plug a hole in road repair finances, Councillor Angela McClements, council cabinet member for transport, has said.

Among projects to get a cash boost in Shropshire Council's area are plans for a long-awaited northern relief road around Shrewsbury, which was announced by Chancellor Phillip Hammond last week.

Today, the government has revealed that safety improvements will be carried out on the A529, which runs north and south of Market Drayton – along with more money to tackle potholes across the county.

The A529 is set to get a portion of the £175m set aside to deal with the nation's most dangerous roads.

Shropshire Council will also get £1.3m to spend on potholes in the next financial year, slightly more than the £1m it got this year, while Telford & Wrekin will get £250,000, up from £176,000.

"It's all good news for us," Councillor Malcolm Pate, Shropshire Council leader, said. "We've got really good news in that we've got money to draw up the case for the Shrewsbury north western relief road. We've been calling for this for years."

He said the £942,000 was to take plans to the next level for the hoped-for link, which would complete a ring road of the town in a bid to cut congestion and improve connectivity.

"That is an indication that they are going to allow the project to go ahead," he said.

But Angela McClements, cabinet member for transport at Telford & Wrekin Council, said the extra money was still not enough, as earlier this month the authority revealed it faces a £6.4 million shortfall in the amount of money needed to repair its roads.

She said: "The council welcomes the additional investment from Government, however it still falls short of the level of investment needed in relation to maintaining our roads to the required standard. The council continues to invest an additional £2m per year alongside £6m of Pride in Your Community funding for highways and environmental schemes." she said.

In a statement from transport secretary Chris Grayling yesterday, the minister said he was "setting out further details" of £1.3 billion of new funding announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

He said £70 million extra from the Pothole Action Fund was being allocated to local authorities in 2017/18.

On developing business cases for schemes such as the Shrewsbury link road, he said: "It does not mean every scheme is certain to go ahead and it remains a competitive process.

"However, many of these will be among the next set of projects that we build in this country."