A new plea to central government for more funding for South Holland roads that deteriorated rapidly during this summer’s drought could be ‘investigated’.
Lincolnshire County Council leader Coun Martin Hill could investigate that route when asked if he could reassure residents Fenland roads would be ‘made safe’.
But he also told Tuesday’s meeting of the council it faces a shortfall of at least £8m as the settlement that the government agreed to give the authority was based on inflation being at two per cent and not the ten per cent currently being experienced, alongside rising energy costs and proposed wage increases.
It was Coun Nigel Pepper, the representative of the Crowland division, who said: “Many of the roads in Lincolnshire have suffered recently because of the hot, dry summer and drought conditions, but none I believe more so than in the Fens and south of the county.
“The subsidence on these roads is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime, more so in places east of Crowland such as Postland, Moulton Eaugate, Whaplode Drove, to name but a few.
“Some of these are B-roads, but very busy B roads at that.
“A house brick would fit in some of them with seemingly no end to the depths of them.
“Locals, would you believe, are asking for some to be closed for safety reasons even though it would inconvenience them.
“There’s reports of broken springs to the vehicles, others have had punctured tyres and wheels.
“Despite a lack of funds can there be an assurance that these roads will soon be repaired and made safe for people to travel on?”
Coun Hill responded: “One of the problems with having droughts and long dry spells, certainly in Fenland and peaty soil is that the soils crack,
“It’s quite annoying even when the road has been repaired and cracks still appear.
“As a council we have a duty to make sure roads are passable and it will mean we have to address that, but without extra money it means that other projects that would have happened, won’t happen as we’ll have to divert money towards those areas where it’s nearly becoming difficult to cross the road.
“We’ll look at it.
“I do remember years ago we did apply to government because of the drought damage to the roads and it may be that’s a route we could investigate again.
“I’m sure Coun Richard Davies and the highways department will do all they can to make sure these roads are dealt with as effectively as possible.”
As the council had an under spend of £13.5m on council budgets and £17.2m on schools, in the 21/22 financial year, councillors voted to transfer £5m of reserves into the Highways budget for this financial year ‘to keep pace with inflation and subsidence’.
But Coun Hill warned that costs had risen including the price of road surfacing by 20 per cent.
“The government gave us a settlement based on two per cent inflation and currently it’s ten per cent.
“That’s an issue not just for the Highways but also other parts of the council and will be a serious issue when we come to set the budget for the next financial year.”
Later in the meeting he also said that the council will be ‘looking at some difficult choices later on’.
“With the £5m to put in Highways we’ve maintained spending at its current level, despite the fact we lost £12m from the previous Prime Minister and Secretary of State. That will have an immediate impact on how we manage the Highways budget as inflation will hit it.
“The damage to roads is substantial, so there’s going to be pressure there.”
