Families across the country will be putting their final touches
to their Halloween outfits today, whether they dress up as
ghouls, goblins, ghosts, skeletons or vampires, as they get ready
for the spookiest time of the year.
However, there has been one nightmare that has been causing
motorists to come out in cold sweats, tossing and turning in bed
as they fret over the hundreds of pounds of damage they are
risking whenever their car, van or lorry goes straight into a
pothole.
They have been haunting this country's roads following over a
decade of underinvestment but new pictures sent by councils are
showing that the government is tackling the state of poor road
surfaces.
Pictures provided by Cornwall and Wiltshire councils are showing
that the government is turning this nightmare around with the
images showing how the government's record £7.3 billion funding
is turning wrecked roads into smoother, safer surfaces.
Both councils are eligible to receive
£383 million from the government for the
next four years. Wiltshire is a green rated council according to
the government's RAG rating and
while Cornwall is amber it scores green for the condition of its
roads.
Just last week new transparency reports from local councils
showed nearly £5 billion will be spent on tackling pesky pothole
gremlins this year and is £800 million more than two years ago.
This has allowed them to maintain thousands of miles of roads
which is not just being spent on pothole fixes, but long term
resurfacing too.
Roads Minister, said: I know first
hand how much of a fright potholes can give people, and their
wallets.
We are determined to end this living nightmare and these pictures
from local authorities are clear evidence that our record £7.3
billion in funding is turning around the pothole plague and
ending this horror story.
With recent figures showing we are on track to maintain nearly
7,000 miles of roads across the country this year, equivalent to
flying between London and Singapore, we are reversing over a
decade of underinvestment into our roads.
Notes to editors
