Express & Star

Wolverhampton gets £500k to fix potholes

Up to 9,000 potholes across Wolverhampton will be filled in after the city council landed a cash windfall.

Published

Local authorities across the Black Country and Staffordshire today shared a £6.6m cash pot- with Wolverhampton awarded £500,000.

The cash grant was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron today, as he singled Wolverhampton out for praise.

Mr Cameron said he wanted to rid towns and cities of the 'pain of potholes', pledging funding for authorities that have shown a commitment to filling them.

He said: "A modern economy needs modern infrastructure, so businesses can create more jobs, commuters can get to work, and families can get on with their lives.

"We have already made an historic investment in Britain's road network – the biggest since the 1970s – including more than £14m set aside for road maintenance in the West Midlands in this year alone.

"And today we are announcing over half a million pounds to help Wolverhampton to rid its roads of the pain of potholes. Potholes damage cars, motorbikes and cycles and cost hard-working people money for repairs.

"Helping fill in potholes is helping hard-working families.

"That is why we are giving this extra money, which could help fix around 9,000 potholes in the area – making a real difference to journeys for businesses, commuters and families in Wolverhampton.

"Wolverhampton has shown it is one of the leading areas in the country in its determination to beat potholes and is receiving extra cash as a result."

Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley will also each get around half a million pounds to fix between 8,000 and 10,000 potholes in each borough, while Staffordshire gets more than £4.5m for 86,000 potholes across the county.

Councils across England are to share £168m to fill in more than three million potholes.

As a condition of receiving the money local authorities are required to publish monthly progress updates on how many have been repaired.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "Potholes are the bane of all our lives and the funding announced today is an important step in ridding our roads of this menace."

Staffordshire has been given £4,578,155 for 86,000 potholes, Sandwell gets £537,587 to fix 10,000, Dudley has £567,127 for 10,000 and Walsall has £448,614 for 8,000.

*x-ref p25

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.