Lincolnshire road repair budget given £10m boost

Council leader Martin Hill said £12m was cut from its highways budget by the government last year

Councillors have committed an extra £10m to maintaining Lincolnshire's 5,500 mile (8,851 km) road network.

The county council said the money was the result of a £12.7m underspend in other areas of the budget and is on top of £19m it has already committed.

It comes after a cut of £12m in road maintenance funding by the government.

Council leader Martin Hill said while it would not " solve the problems" it was a "big help", adding "we keep putting in wherever we can".

The use of the money was approved at a meeting on Friday, with Mr Hill saying it would mainly be spent on maintaining rural roads.

The cut in government funding last year represented 25% of the road maintenance budget, with the council pointing out the £12m was the equivalent of fixing 24,000 potholes.

The government said Lincolnshire had received more than £116m to cover road maintenance between 2022 and 2025.

The money will be targeted at roads in rural communities, Mr Hill said.

Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: "Every single penny of this latest additional funding will go a long way to getting more potholes filled, surfaces repaired, and other issues dealt with."

The decision to commit the £10m to highway maintenance was questioned by Independent councillor Phil Dilks.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he proposed an amendment, which, had it passed, would have seen £1m allocated to the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

The government-funded programme provides holiday clubs to children who receive benefits-related free school meals.

Mr Dilks said: "Imagine the impact we could make with £10 million. We're just asking for £1 million of the £10 million available, leaving 90% to do other things with."

He told the meeting the programme already benefited 3,935 children and the additional funding could have extended it to a further 1,200 children with special needs