An extra £4 million is needed to repair Nottinghamshire roads after highways suffered five times the amount of damage than normal in seasonal storms.
Nottinghamshire County Council is allocating the money for extra works following unprecedented rainfall during Storm Babet in October and Storm Henk in January.
A council Cabinet meeting on Thursday (February 8) which proposed the budget for the 2024/25 financial year, starting in April, heard that the council was in a better position than most authorities.
It expects to come in £5m under budget this year, despite having to spend more than expected on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities transport and children’s social care.
The proposals, which will go before full council for approval later this month, will make repairing flood-damaged roads one of the top priorities.
The county council plans to allocate £4m from extra funding the government announced last month to starting the repairs.
Council leader Councillor Ben Bradley (Con) said: “There’s been five times as much damage to the roads this winter than a normal winter due to the weather events.
“The additional investment will be welcome, and we will be getting on with repairs as the weather improves.”
A total of £500m will be shared between upper-tier local authorities after lobbying from MPs, with Nottinghamshire County Council expected to receive around £7m.
Councillor Neil Clarke, portfolio holder for Transport and Environment said: “With the unprecedented bad weather events we’ve had, we’ve had a double whammy of flooding damage plus the devastating condition to the roads.
“The extra money we’ve received from the government will allow us to allocate an extra £4m extra to help repair the damage from these events.”
The proposals recommend a 2.84 per cent council tax increase – slightly less than the maximum amount allowed – and a two per cent rise in the Adult Social Care precept charge from April – for a total 4.84 per cent rise in Nottinghamshire household bills from April.
Cllr Bradley said: “We are in the rare – if not unique – position of being able to set a balanced budget for the next two years despite a growing demand for services.”
However, there were warnings that the council is still in turbulent financial times.
Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle (Lab), Vice Chair of the Overview Committee, said: “The local government funding increase is welcome to balance our budget, but we do need more. There is a heavy reliance of reserves which can only be used once.”
The budget will now be debated by the full council on Thursday, February 22.
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