She says there is still a lot more investment needed for road repairs
Derbyshire's highways chief is relatively pleased to have secured a share of £175m of Government funding, but says there is still a lot more investment needed to improve the state of the county’s roads. The Conservative-led county council is to benefit from a share of £175m earmarked for transport projects in the East Midlands for the 2025-26 financial year after the Labour Government funding was approved by the East Midlands Combined County Authority [EMCCA].
Derbyshire will benefit from a share of £75m allocated as a Highways Maintenance Block to be received by EMCCA to go on road repairs and it will also benefit from a share of £66m of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements funding also to be received by EMCCA. The CRSTS funding is also to be used to support road repairs and improvements to highways and for projects to make walking, cycling, and public transport easier.
However, County Cllr Charlotte Cupit, Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, explained the £75m of funding is for all East Midlands’ main councils including; Derbyshire, Derby City, Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City. She claims Derbyshire County Council is only receiving the same money from this pot that it always gets for highways.
She also claimed that the funding is actually slightly less this year in terms of new Government grants. Concerning the £75m for highways maintenance, Cllr Cupit said: “It’s the same money we always get for highways, having had slightly less this year in terms of new Government grants. However, the CRSTS money, £66m across the region, is new money as a result of having the Combined Authority.
“In Derbyshire, we’ve campaigned hard for a large portion of this to be allocated to highways maintenance, including landslip repairs, with the aim of improving our existing network, which is what residents and we all want. Therefore, I am pleased we’ve been successful in this campaign, and we’re gearing up to deliver this on the ground this next year, with a further record highways and resurfacing programme.
"There’s still a lot more investment needed given the damage to our roads, but this is a positive boost to the resurfacing focus we’ve been doing.”
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