Suffolk could see £10m invested on county’s forgotten roads

Suffolk could see £10m invested into resurfacing the county’s smaller roads.

The proposal is being brought forward by Cllr Paul West at next week's Suffolk County Council cabinet meeting in a bid to 'reduce ongoing maintenance costs' and bolster road quality 'rather than repairing them when potholes appear'.

The funding would expand on the yearly £11m annual maintenance budget and focus on resurfacing local roads which are often 'less maintained' due to lack of money.

Cllr West said: "These smaller roads are often in estates or off the beaten track in our villages and are in need of some love and attention."

John Clemens, lead SCC officer on operational highways, added: "Locally we recognise that we don't get enough money from the Department for Transport.

"This isn't going to be filling more potholes, this is this is to prevent them from forming."

The money, which would be funded through borrowing, would put an additional £688,000 pressure on the existing budgets at a time when the council must find savings across all services to address its overspend.

But Cllr West says this issue is of high priority to the council with reports for local and minor roads between 2020 and 2023 exceeding 17,000 complaints.

This funding would also, in his view, lead to less money being spent on shorter-term fixes to potholes.

He continued: "We recognise that, yes, finances are hard, but we're looking to do a balanced budget and looking at savings in all areas of the council.

"But we do also recognise what the public says to us on a very regular basis, which is requesting more money for things like roads and footways."

The proposal would see new, more environmentally friendly, materials being used and lead to higher quality roads lasting between 10 and 20 years depending on traffic and type of vehicle.

Should it get agreed next Tuesday by the cabinet, the funding would be available throughout the county and last until the end of March 2025.