£80 million to fix Rotherham's crumbling roads

“THANK you very much but it’s not going to change the world."

That was the message from Rotherham Borough Council leader Chris Read as the government granted funding for more than 4,000 pothole repairs across the borough.

The council will be handed £229,000 from the Pothole Action Fund, which ministers claim is enough to fix 4,321 holes on the region’s roads.

But Cllr Read (pictured) claimed the money was “probably only enough to repair between four and six small residential streets”.

He said: “We will have the money and thank the government very much for it but it’s not going to change the world.

“The overall backlog if we to try and fix every road in the borough is something like £80 million.

“The A, B and major roads are about the same condition as the rest of the country but the estate roads are particularly bad.”

The government funding is part of a £250 million pot which will see around four million holes repaired across the country within five years.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “I know how important well-maintained roads are to people across the country.

“Almost every journey starts and ends on a local road, so the government is giving councils £250 million specifically to tackle the blight of potholes in their area.

“This is just one part of our unprecedented investment in local road maintenance over the next five years.

“We are giving a record £6 billion to local authorities in England that will improve journeys across the regions.”

The funding comes just weeks after Rotherham’s Labour group promised £10 million of repairs to the borough’s crumbling roads.

The cash - which is one of the party’s main policies for the local elections on May 5 - would be spent over the next four years.