Torbay’s road infrastructure was hit hard over the winter months.
Today, that infrastructure is about to benefit from a new £163,000 investment from the Department for Transport.
The fund is thought to help local councils, Torbay included, in the repair of potholes and protection of the local highways.
For the financial year commencing 2018/2019 Torbay Council has been allocated £163,000 under the Flood Resilience Fund.
The purpose of this fund is to aid with repairs and carry out preventative maintenance works to protect the local roads affected by the recent severe weather.
Cllr Robert Excell, Executive Lead for Community Services said:
We are pleased to receive this increased grant towards our road repairs for this year. It comes at a time when we are already seeing the effects to our road surfaces from the recent severe winter weather, which has caused a noticeable increase in potholes forming.
Road repairs aren’t the main focus
Whilst a £163,000 funding injection may sound a great deal, it is thought that only a small fraction of the repairs will be able to be completed.
Unfortunately without a long term funding strategy and investment in Torbay’s roads it is thought that our highways will continue to deteriorate, especially as climate change continues to have an effect.
A small amount of the £163,000 awarded will go on actual pothole repairs the rest of the funding will be used to identify and implement preventative maintenance treatments which can have a long term benefit for Torbay’s highways.
The preventative treatments are also considered to be most effective and cost effctive for the council.
Despite this, it is thought that Torbay Council will continue to carry out routine and emergency works on the road network to identify defects which meet the criteria for repairs.
Report potholes and more
If you have spotted a pothole or have gone over one of them you can report these issues along with road flooding, overgrown vegetation, street lighting and damaged pavements by visiting the dedicated highways fault page on the Torbay Council website.
