In its 2016/17 budget, Dundee City
Council’s SNP administration transferred £746,000 of roads and street lighting
expenditure to the council’s capital budget and further reduced the revenue budget
for roads maintenance by £339,000. Which means
Dundee now has less money to spend on repairing potholes.
The state of our roads and
pavements is one of the top issues raised with me and 80 per cent of Scottish
drivers say they've had to swerve to avoid a pothole in recent weeks, which is
higher than the UK average. I was therefore pleased to learn that Ruth Davidson,
leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has given a commitment that she would tackle
Scotland's potholes by investing £20 million a year on the issue. £100 million
would be set aside in a Roads Maintenance Fund over the term of the next
Scottish Parliament. The UK Government invests tens of millions in a specific
pothole fund, but this is not currently replicated in Scotland.
It is anticipated that the
additional funds would help fill nearly two million potholes over the next five
years. Council’s would identify how many potholes they needed to fill and then
apply to the fund for the cash.
