Nottinghamshire County Council plans to spend more than £72 million on fixing county roads over the next 12 months – including extra money from the Mayor of the East Midlands.
The Conservative-led authority held its first full council meeting today (March 20) in its new Oak House headquarters building ,near Linby.
Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), cabinet member for transport and environment, announced around £72.7 million in total will go towards fixing the county’s roads over the period.
Part of this, and after a successful bid, comes from an £15.2 million from the Mayor of the East Midlands Claire Ward (Lab) via the East Midlands Combined Authority (EMCCA) which will help to tackle a backlog of road repairs.
It also includes EMCCA’s basic allocation for Nottinghamshire – the money the council would have been given by the Government regardless of EMCCA’s existence – which is £29.5 million.
Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind) put forward an amendment on how Highways money should be spent.
It asked for £16.5 million of the £72.7 million to go towards a “member-led highways scheme” which would see each councillor receiving £250,000 to target road works needed in their individual areas.
Reading the amendment out, Cllr Zadrozny said: “This funding risks vanishing into the great Nottinghamshire tarmac abyss, where decisions are made in committee rooms far removed from the people who actually have to dodge the potholes every day.”
Supporting the amendment, Cllr Kane Oliver (Ind), said: “Our pavements are trip hazards, our drainage is a joke and road repairs are too often dictated by political convenience rather than community needs.”
But Council Leader, Sam Smith (Con), called the opposition Ashfield Independents’ proposals and comments “nonsense”.
He said: “The principle of the amendment is a good one- one that already exists. Members’ priorities already form part of the capital programme, we get in touch with our highways manager and we get it done.
“What about roads that are across divisions, one councillor responsible for half, another responsible for the other half, one councillor has money left in their pot, the other councillor has spent it on something else…. complete and utter nonsense.”
Cllr Ben Bradley said: “[Some] members have spoken about being back of the queue [for highways funding]- if everyone is back of the queue then there is no queue is there?”
He added that money had been invested in Hucknall’s high street and access roads.
Leader of the council’s Labour group, Kate Foale, said: “To say the Ashfield Independents successfully gave us this funding on their own is just daft.
“This is money from a Labour Government to give to a Labour Mayor to pass this on to us.”
She added that money for roads “needs to be a strategically planned allocation of funds”.
The amendment was struck down with 14 votes for and 46 against.
Around £7.5 million of the EMCCA money will contribute towards A614/A6097 corridor improvements, between Ollerton and Lowdham, aiming to reduce congestion, with around £5.5 million going towards bus service improvements.
• Council meeting in ‘unfinished’ new building branded ‘political stunt’ by opposition
