Calderdale Council to spend £7m fixing roads, walls bridges and potholes

Calderdale Council has outlined the road repairs it has planned

Around £2.4 million will be spent on roads, another £1.1 million on infrastructure, £500,000 upgrading street lighting and £2.3 million on two specific routes following Department for Transport Funding for the Safer Roads Scheme.

And the council will also receive £222,000 to tackle potholes after a successful bid for DfT funding for that purpose.

The £2.3 million Safer Roads cash will be spent on two sections of the A6033, at Keighley Road, Hebden Bridge, and Rochdale Road, Walsden, Todmorden.

Of the £2.4 million road maintenance budget, £561,000 is being spent on classified roads with £1.86 million earmarked for unclassified roads.

Two schemes which have been identified for some of the spending are Bacup Road, Todmorden, which is a classified A road, and South Parade at Stainland, which is a classified B road.

Coun Helen Rivron (Lab, Ovenden) asked if there were start and end dates set for work on Cousin Lane, Ovenden, which takes in three roundabouts and is included in the 2019-20 programme.

Coun Jane Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot), Cabinet member for Regeneration and Resources, said ward councillors would be informed of those dates but she did not know them at this point.

She added that following concerns raised about some roads in Rastrick at full council by Coun Sophie Whittaker (Con, Rastrick), she would be looking at those with her.

Leader of the Council Coun Tim Swift (Lab, Town) said the Local Government Association had identified a Government backlog of approximately £9 billion for local authorities, which it had suggested could be granted at the rate of around £1 billion a year.

That would more than double Calderdale’s allocation but, said Coun Swift, referring to the country’s new Prime Minister, “Mr Johnson’s largesse hasn’t so far extended to that – but we live in hope.”

As a “top tier” authority, whereby more funding is unlocked from Government for maintaining roads, good performance meant Calderdale has received the maximum level of additional funding, £661,000, on top of the basic £3.15 million.

The DfT has also provided £800,000 for special projects which will include schemes to reduce road casualties and encourage active travel such as cycling or walking.