Resolving town's pothole problem could cost £50m

A councillor says that £50m might be needed to repair all the potholes in his town.

Chris Watts, Swindon Borough Council's cabinet member for Environment and Transport, said funding shortfalls had led to a "backlog" that would only be resolved by an infusion of money, well beyond that currently received from the government.

Mr Watts said the council needs to make careful decisions despite an increase in the borough's roads budget by £1.5m to £5.5m last year.

With the government's spending review due later this week, he is hoping for "incremental increases" when the budget is allocated.

"The main problem is that, due to the lack of funding there hasn't been the money there to do the resurfacing that's been required."

"So we have a backlog, which we estimate at an indicative figure of about £50m."

"People have definitely seen an improvement. They've noticed that potholes are being fixed a lot quicker. We get far less insurance claims, which saves the people of Swindon money as well."

"The increase we got last year was very useful. It enabled us to plan better, bring projects forward and I'm hoping that we get more money to do that as well", he added.

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