Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with Brighton and Hove City Council on the condition of roads in that area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Officials at the Department for Transport discuss highways maintenance matters with local authorities as and when issues are raised with them. Brighton and Hove City Council also registered to attent the recent "Gearing up for Efficient Highway Delivery and Funding from 2015 Roadshow" where the Department sought views from the sector on the future of funding arrangements for highways maintenance and on improvements to the value for money of the local road network programme.

The Department for Transport provides capital funding to local highway authorities from the local maintenance highways maintenance capital block grant and over the four year period from 2011 Brighton and Hove City Council’s allocation is £13.9 million.

The Department has also allocated additional highways maintenance funding to authorities to help repair roads damaged due to severe weather events. For Brighton and Hove City Council this includes £0.152 million in 2010/11, £0.412 million in March 2011 and more recently £0.295 million in March 2014.

A £200 million Pothole Fund was announced in the recent Budget. From this, £168 million is being made available to councils in England through a bidding exercise. Further details of the fund were made available on 24 April, and can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pothole-fund-2014-to-2015-application.

Any local authorities wishing to apply for a share of the funding are required to submit an application to the Department for Transport by 22 May 2014.

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