Two sets of funding, totalling £348 million across 4
years, will be available for local authorities to bid
for in an effort to tackle issues on major local roads,
from easing congestion through to sorting out potholes.
The first pot of investment, the Challenge Fund, will
be available for this year and the next, with just
under £200 million on offer. Councils will be able to
bid for projects that will improve the quality of roads
and surrounding infrastructure, including structures
such as bridges and viaducts if necessary, to benefit
the local economy and make driving safer. In
particular, the funding could be put toward sorting
major pothole repairs.
The second set of funding, the Pinch Point Fund, will
be available in 2021/22 and 2022/23 and totals £150
million. It will go towards council projects designed
to help ease congestion on some of their busiest roads.
Previous examples of projects funded through Pinch
Point include improving the links between the A12 and
A143 to open up housing and commercial development
land, new roads helping buses bypass single lane roads,
and new roads to link main roads with new housing
developments.
Transport Secretary said:
Local roads are the backbone of the transport network
for drivers up and down the country, but we know that
some aren’t up to the standard they need to be.
Whether it’s congestion or quality, we need to
empower local authorities to invest in these roads
and make journeys safer and stress-free.
That’s exactly what this funding will do – over 4
years we’re providing more than a third of a billion
pounds to make sure local authorities have the cash
they need to make this a reality.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of
funding injections the department has made into making
sure roads are fit for purpose. The department is
investing over £6.6 billion between 2015 and 2021,
including the £198 million funding announced today, to
improve the condition of the local highway networks.
