£8.5 million to be spent on improving roads in Dudley
Around £8.5 million has been set aside to improve the condition of roads in the Dudley borough this year, council bosses have revealed.
The cash is nearly double what Dudley Council spent last year – where £4.3 million was spent on repairing roads, pavements resurfaced and potholes repaired.
Council chiefs have vowed it is now "full steam ahead" with works that were delayed due to the coronavirus lockdown.
This year's budget has been increased to £4.7 million – and will be supplemented by a further £3.8 million in Government funding. It follows a successful bid by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to the Challenge Fund, with the cash available to improve roads – with particular focus on bus route networks.
Dudley Council leader, Patrick Harley, said: "The coronavirus pandemic inevitably resulted in a delayed start to works on many roads.
"But as the lockdown eases, we are committed to moving full steam ahead with our plans to improve the borough’s roads.
Specialist
"We have put our money where our mouth is by nearly doubling last year’s spend."
Councillor Karen Shakespeare, the authority's cabinet member for environmental, highways and street services, added: "We know how important it is to residents that our roads are in good condition and we have committed to spend money this year to improve as many as we can.
"The programme is already under way and we’re seeing excellent work with Gate Street being a good recent example.
"We will have specialist resurfacing teams contracted to the council and our own highways team out in force in the coming weeks and months and I look forward to seeing the results."
They both recently visited Gate Street in Upper Gornal, which is one of the roads to have recently been resurfaced and remarked.
