Lincolnshire County Council finds ally in highways funding campaign

Cheshire East Council has joined forces with Lincolnshire County Council’s ‘Fix Our Funds To Fix Our Roads’ campaign to highlight its own need for more cash to repair its wrecked roads.

The leader and deputy leader of Cheshire East Council have stood alongside LCC to also lobby government and demand reverses to cuts in highways funding.

Coun Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East council, said: “We are a large semi-rural authority with a complex and extensive highways network and our residents place a massive importance on having well-maintained roads – something we are doing our very best to deliver but are struggling to fund, as are other councils.”

Whilst Lincolnshire County Council has seen a cut of 25 per cent in highways funding for the maintenance of the county’s roads, Cheshire East has also undergone an axeing of money from the government which saw its budget cut by 21 per cent.

Coun Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire county council, said: “It is very encouraging to see Cheshire East council launch its own bid to have highways funding reinstated with ‘Fix Our Funds To Fix Our Roads’. The council’s decision to join us clearly underlines how effective our campaign is in getting our plea for the missing millions heard.

“To have Cheshire East stand alongside LCC in this campaign strengthens further what we are hoping to achieve. The more local authorities that can join us to lobby government with our campaign, the more our message will continue to get to the heart of Westminster.”

According to Lincolnshire County Council, continued lack of funding could lead to an increase in costly unplanned roadworks, a drop in road network resilience and more potholes. At the moment, 660 miles of Lincolnshire’s roads are classed as being in poor or very poor condition.

Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “Cheshire East are very welcome co-campaigners in our wide-felt need for this missing money to be returned by government.

“LCC and Cheshire East share the same vital message that without the reinstatement of these missing millions our roads will get worse and the local economy will take a hit. That’s why we will continue lobbying government until they listen to us.

“We need them to fix our funding so we can fix our roads.”

Coun Hill added: “In response to a very strong steer from voters and the public, we’ve always done our best to protect the highways maintenance budget from cuts.

“So, we will do whatever we can to keep Lincolnshire’s roads in the best possible condition if government doesn’t replace the £12 million funding gap they’ve left us to fill.

“We also encourage everyone throughout the county to help in our fight by visiting our campaign webpage and writing to their local MP to demand better funding for our roads.”

Visit www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/highwaysfunding for links to the ability to share your personal pothole stories and videos.

According to the UK Road Liaison Group: Department for Transport data indicates a decline in maintenance undertaken across the country’s local road network, with the roads classed as ‘minor’ affected the most – something which affects rural Lincolnshire more than most authorities.

Nearly one in three (31%) older adults (aged 65+) are prevented from walking more or at all on their local streets because of cracked and uneven pavements, equating to over 3.5million people in the UK. The new research found that half of older adults (48%) would walk more if their pavements were well maintained.