£3.3m spend on potholes

An extra £3.3 million is to be spent on filling potholes and improving roads in the Wyre Forest district.

It follows criticisism of Worcestershire County Council for not doing enough to patch up the roads. Members of Wyre Forest council said the state of the roads was getting worse despite an extra £15 million being earmarked by the county for road maintenance.

Councillors Fran Oborski and Helen Dyke were both concerned that there was "little sign of repairs being carried out in Kidderminster" and that county colleagues had failed to come up with an effective plan to tackle the problem.

But county councillor Derek Prodger, cabinet member for highways, today said an extra £3.3m package of funding had been agreed for the Wyre Forest district.

He said: "We have already spent £500,000 on filling potholes in the Wyre Forest district, including Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley.

"I have also agreed a package for the Wyre Forest district of £2.8m extra spend, of which £1.8m of that will be allocated in Kidderminster and £1m for Stourport and Bewdley.

"If you add that together, we are committed to spending a total of £3.3m in the Wyre Forest.

"As a cabinet member, I think we have been very fair with a limited budget.

"The district is getting one hell of a chunk of resources into Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest area and we are supporting that to the tune of £3.3m.

"I am disappointed I haven't another £100m to spend but I have not got the money.

"We have been very fair to the Wyre Forest district in spending the money as wisely as we can.

"I think that £3.3m is a substantial amount of money to be spent on highway infrastructure and repairs."

The programme of repairs is already under way.