Turning the corner on potholes with record £59m spend....

Cuts to funding for road maintenance by the Tories has left our roads full of potholes. Trying to blame our current county council administration for these is dishonest. It is a national issue which the Libdem led county council administration is leading the way in fixing with a record £59m to be spent on road repairs and £7.4m in resurfacing in the coming year.

If you're a driver you'll know all about potholes and how these have become a major issue. We spent almost £600m nationally last year repairing our cars after hitting potholes, a number to which I personally have contributed! But why did the problem arise and what is being done to fix it.

Now while county councils are responsible for road maintenance in their areas, the money for this comes largely from the central government, via your road tax. And the last Tory government chose to cut this funding from all councils as part of their 'austerity' measures, (to around half of what was required). The consequence was a nationwide issue, though this was supported by the then Tory county council administration who implemented a 'managed decline' policy for our roads. In short: No money = No road maintenance = potholes.

Recognising the impact these were having on the economy (14bn a year!) the new government recently announced the availability of £1.6bn to go directly into pothole repair. The impact of this is already being seen with figures suggesting a 27% reduction in potholes nationally already, and a considerable improvement across Oxfordshire. And the council have planned to spend a record £59m on road repairs and £7.4m in resurfacing in the coming year, amounts that even the Tory councillors didn't oppose. And while some might say its not being done quickly enough or being done properly, it has to be appreciated, that after many years of neglect, this cannot be fixed instantaneously and its still a case of balancing demand against available resources, which are not limitless.

And the idea that voting for a different county council administration will fix things is just daft. As the local media in their areas have reported our, neighboring counties with Tory administrations, have similar if not greater problems with potholes.

And finally the council relies on all of us reporting potholes and you can help by reporting the potholes you encounter here

OCC Fix My Street