More than £21 million is to be given to Cheshire East Council to fix the borough’s pothole-ridden roads.
The money is part of a £1.6 billion package of funding from the Government to local authorities around the country.
Crewe & Nantwich MP Connor Naismith has welcomed the money and the Government’s pledge to “clamp down” on disruptive street works.
The news comes as Nantwich once again was gripped by traffic chaos this week due to a number of road works allowed to take place at the same time.
In total, CEC will receive £21,030,000 to fix potholes in 2025/26.
Mr Naismith said: “Drivers have been plagued by potholes for too long, after 14 long years of Tory neglect.
“Under the Conservatives the situation spiralled out of control, with pothole damage costing drivers almost £500 million.
“The impact of this funding will be transformative, with journeys in Crewe and Nantwich made safer, quicker and cheaper for drivers.
“This announcement goes well beyond the promises we made in our manifesto at the last election and shows that we’re serious about our Plan for Change, which will focus on investment and growth to put more money in people’s pockets and rebuilding Britain.”
In total, local highways authorities will receive a 40% uplift in funding on average.
Figures from the RAC show that for drivers in Crewe and Nantwich the cost of pothole damage to vehicles is around £500 on average a year, with more severe repairs costing considerably more.
According to the AA, fixing potholes is a priority for 96% of drivers.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “Potholes have plagued motorists for far too long, but this record investment will start to reverse a decade of decline on our country’s roads.
“Too many drivers have to endure an obstacle course when on the roads – whether that’s to go to work, pick up children from school, or see friends.
“Potholes damage cars and make pedestrians and cyclists less safe. We are investing £1.6bn to fix up to seven million more potholes next year.
“Every area of England will get extra cash to tackle this problem once and for all.”
We have contacted Cheshire East Council and asked for their reaction to the funding and how they plan to spend it. We’re awaiting a reply.
Instead of doing the job properly, CEC will send out Patchet and Botchet with a wheelbarrow full of tarmac and two shovels.
Lets hope CEC do things properly with this money.
Buy or rent one of these for a year and blitz through the holes once and for all
https://www.jcb.com/en-gb/products/pothole-pro/pothole-pro?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=com_pothole_pro&gad_source=1
My brother whilst driving home to Droitwich last Saturday hit a pothole on the Nantwich to Whitchurch road just before the food factory. It is going to cost him a lot of money. If a vehicle is four wheel drive you have to replace all four tyres, failure to do so may cause huge damage to the drive train. his car is also subject to a detailed inspection to determine potential further damage. One run flat tyre will result in four new tyres It is costing the motorist 500 million pounds a year nationally according to research I have recently read.
Tell me would it not of been better to spend the 11million pounds on the multi storey garage in Crewe which generates fees of £75.00 per day on road repairs.
I have know doubt the repairs this year will require repairing next year. The quality of these repairs is essential to deliver value.
Yet another failure of Local Authorities. We all pay huge amounts of money in taxing vehicles, fuel duty and vat on fuel.
I wonder what the total cost of damage is to vehicles in Cheshire East alone ?
On the surface, pardon the pun, this looks like good news,but please let’s make a proper job of the repairs or it’s just putting good money after bad.
A bit Rich for our MP to make those comments. His CEC mates got a massive bung from the last Tory government to spend on infrastructure repairs and look at the A500 now. Let’s hope they oversee things better this time!