Suffolk’s roads are lacking millions of pounds in funding, a report has shown.
Members of the county council’s scrutiny committee are due to consider a report next Tuesday looking at the state of Suffolk’s roads.
The report shows the £17.78 million average investment into road surfacing over the last six years is only 35 per cent of the £50.4 million needed to keep the county’s roads in an optimal condition.
This means the council has had to focus its resources on preventative surface treatments which, although good for the moment, will prove more expensive in the future.
The report states: “In the medium-term this is sustainable, but at a time in the future there will be a greater proportion of roads in Suffolk that will require the preventative surface treatment to be removed and a machine surface installed.”
Starting in the next financial year, the council is expecting £37.3 million in Government funding, a £7 million boost to this year’s £30.6 million, which the report states is ‘a welcome increase’ despite being short of the optimal amount needed for the county.
Although the report found the overall condition of Suffolk’s roads to be improving, with the condition across all road types improving since 2012, partly thanks to a £21 million council investment between 2017 and 2021, it is unclear what the picture would look like once more resurfacing is needed.
The report states: “As current and projected budget levels do not provide the level of funding required for optimal road conditions in Suffolk, there will continue to be road defects across Suffolk’s roads.”
“The combination of alternative defect repair solutions and employing new technology will continue to contribute to Suffolk Highways making the most of the available funding for road maintenance in Suffolk and provide the best possible condition of Suffolk’s roads for our communities.”
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