Nottinghamshire County Council's leader says as much as £200 million is needed to fix the area's roads. Ben Bradley made the claim after opposition councillors proposed a £20.5 million investment into the county's rods at the authority's annual budget meeting.
The Independent Alliance group of councillors said it would have funded this investment partially by cancelling the investment in new Top Wighay offices. But Conservative councillors accused the Independent Alliance of a 'gimmick.'
Councillor Bradley said: " The idea that £20 million would fix anything is for the birds. Truth be told, if we wanted to do the best possible job we could we'd want £200 million.
Read more: Idea that £20 million would fix Nottinghamshire roads is 'for the birds', says leader
"£20 million isn't going to give us the ability to control the weather either, which is the biggest cause of recent damage. It's a bit disingenuous to suggest to residents that there is a silver bullet for the roads."
The pothole debate comes after Nottinghamshire County Council commissioned a cross-party review of highways in the summer of 2021 to look at the way in which roads were repaired. The authority said it aimed to move towards a "right-first time approach" where roads were resurfaced instead of potholes being temporarily filled.
The council said at the end of last year that the use of Viafix to temporarily fill potholes had decreased by 61 per cent, with the number of pothole complaints also falling. But some opposition councillors say several roads in their area are still in a poor state, with the council saying it doesn't hold information on how often it is revisiting a pothole after first repairing it.
One commenter said: "Stapleford is a nightmare lucky to find a smooth road." While another said: "The cost just keeps piling on as they are playing catch-up and have done for years. There are so many roads they keep fixing, turning holes into bumps, that they should just resurface properly."
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