Highways maintenance funding welcomed

Hampshire County Council has welcomed £19.7 million funding awarded by the Department of Transport for highways maintenance in 2020/21.

Councillor Rob Humby, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, said: “Looking after Hampshire’s network of over 5,500 miles of road is one of our top priorities. This funding is particularly welcome as we experienced a very wet and stormy winter earlier this year, which caused additional deterioration to the road surfaces and damage to drainage systems, so there’s a significant job to be done to address this.

“As well as repairs to our road network, this funding will be used for structural maintenance and tackle the increasing pressure we face from aging and deteriorating bridges on our network, a number of which need to be repaired and renovated at the present time.”

The Government funding comprises a share of the national pothole fund, and an award from the Challenge Fund.  

Hampshire County Council invests an additional £10 million each year in its planned maintenance programme, Operation Resilience, and for this financial year an additional £5 million of investment has also been agreed to ensure more sites can be treated.

Details of Hampshire County Council’s Operation Resilience planned maintenance programme is available at: www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/plannedmaintenance

Hampshire residents can find out more about roadworks taking place in Hampshire by Hampshire Highways, as well as work by utility companies, at: www.roadworks.org

Hampshire residents are encouraged to report potholes and road defects direct to the County Council at: www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/roadproblems