Council looking to get more cash for £36m winter road repairs

In a letter obtained by the Yorkshire Post and written by North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways, Coun Gareth Dadd, to Mr Hammond, the full extent of the damage suffered during some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the region is laid bare.

Coun Dadd says the 2009/2010 winter caused more than £30m of accelerated damage. Despite the council undertaking £10.5m of essential repairs since then, the backlog of repairing all the network has increased to £36m.

The Government announced last month it is splitting £100m between all local authorities in England to repair potholes caused by the freezing conditions.

But the county council faces a 40 per cent cut to its highways budget over the next three years – although it is still applying for extra grants. It covers more than 5,500 miles of highways, the largest road network in England, and Coun Dadd is urging Mr Hammond to recognise the scale of the problem in North Yorkshire.

“We are really asking for recognition of our case,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

“We have suffered the worst of the weather on the largest road network in England. Roads have suffered extremely badly here.

“When they are dividing that money we really think they should prioritise it to where the damage has occurred.

“I’m satisfied that we have been doing everything possible to achieve a road network that will deal with the extreme safety issues.

“We recognise the dire financial situation of the country and we are prepared to take our fair share of the cuts, but in terms of our road network that can only happen for so long.”

At the end of his letter, Coun Dadd offers to travel to meet Mr Hammond face to face to present the county council’s case at his own expense.

On December 2 last year at Topcliffe, near Thirsk, a temperature of minus 19C was recorded – the coldest ever in Yorkshire.

The county council’s records show between November 24 and December 22, there was persistent snow coverage and extreme sub-zero temperatures across the whole of North Yorkshire.

The minimum overnight road surface temperature did not get above freezing throughout this time, with the lowest road surface temperature recorded as minus 14C on December 21.

Earlier this year, the county council warned it would be years before the roads in North Yorkshire were back to a standard people were used to.

However, officers have said despite the damage, any potholes that presented a safety issue would be fixed and assured residents that rural areas would not be neglected in favour of major routes.

Potholes occur where water repeatedly freezes and expands in cracks in the road, leaving holes which can damage vehicles.

The Local Government Association says the money given to councils across the country for road maintenance is being reduced from £871m this year to £806m next year. Further cuts take the budget down to £707m by 2014-15.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said: “To make sure that councils are able to make use of this money as soon as possible, the funds will be distributed to English local authorities based on the amount and condition of roads the authority is responsible for rather than councils needing to apply for the funding.

“This method of allocating funding recognises that damage caused by severe weather was widespread across the country and also minimises administrative burdens for all concerned.”