Council to spend £2m on paths and roads

Wakefield Council has to prioritise annual work in order to deal with immediate issues as well as manage the long term future of highways.

But yesterday Coun Denise Jeffery, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic growth said: “This year’s programme has been particularly difficult to prioritise because despite our best efforts we are still dealing with the legacy of the two worst winters on record, as well as managing the constant wear and tear suffered by all roads and footpaths.

“We have to focus our work on safety and prolonging the life of the roads as much as possible. To do this within budget means we have to prioritise what we do and ensure the method we use gives the best value for money.”

Coun Jeffery added: “We know that some people may be disappointed if the programme does not include a road that they believe needs attention. But we have to look at the district-wide picture which includes over 6,000 roads.

“Our engineers thoroughly assess and evaluate all highway issues so we can focus our work and limited budget on the roads which are in most need.”

Different methods of resurfacing are used depending on the nature of the issue and the council use specialist contractors.

Earlier this year the council spent an additional £1.7m on the roads to try to deal with the most urgent repairs and had crews working to deal with the back log of permanent pothole repairs.

Any roads that do not feature in this year’s programme will be continuously monitored to ensure that safety defects are repaired as quickly as possible

The full schedule works for 2011-2012 is available online on Wakefield Council’s website at www.wakefield.gov.uk/roadrepairprogramme