Council chiefs' pledge over blight of Dudley potholes
Council leaders today pledged to take action on tackling potholes blighting the Dudley borough after residents called for road maintenance to be considered a priority.
Bosses have decided to allocate almost £750,000 to carry out the repairs in the next 12 months.
It comes after streets around the borough were left damaged following this year's snow and ice. The council has originally put aside £549,400 to target potholes.
But following its budget consultation with residents – the biggest in the council's history – it decided to earmark an extra £200,000 as many residents had called for the service to be protected.
The consultation was carried out as the council draws up plans to make cuts of £27million over the next three years.
The additional cash for repairing potholes would have been used to fund a £350,000 referendum on council tax had one been needed.
But 60 per cent of residents said they were not willing to pay more than a two per cent rise in the rate. Council leaders are now proposing to freeze council tax for another 12 months.
Councillor Pete Lowe, cabinet member for finance, said: "This goes to show the value of holding meaningful consultation with residents.
"By spending a small amount on asking residents for their views on the council tax we have removed the need to spend £350,000 of our budget on a referendum.
"From our consultation we also know that road maintenance is highly valued and this is why we have decided to use the money we have saved to help support work in filling thousands more potholes."
Dangerous potholes or defects are repaired by Dudley Council within 24 hours of notification and others are added to the authority's programme of works accordingly.
Meanwhile, in Worcestershire, council chiefs have also expanded their pothole service.
Eighteen teams of workers – seven more than usual – have been ready to tour the county's roads to find and fix any problems on the roads, now milder conditions have returned.
Officials say they will be able to tackle as many as 200 potholes each day.
Last month it was announced that the road maintenance programme in the county would benefit from an extra £3.2million in funding from central Government during the next two years.
Sandwell Council has also had extra workers out fixing potholes reported to them.
Four two-man squads have been touring the borough to find the damaged roads and carry out immediate repairs.
