Darling pledges funds to fix weather-damaged roads
Thursday 25 March 2010 Back to Blog
Van leasing customers fed up with driving on potholed roads will have been pleased with Alistair Darling's Budget speech yesterday (March 24th).
The Chancellor announced millions of pounds of funding to help repair Britain's roads which were left badly damaged by a severe winter.
Councils will be given £100 million towards fixing local roads, while £285 million will be invested in improving the motorways.
The move has been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association, which had been calling for action to be taken prior to the Budget.
However Jo Tanner, a representative for the industry body, said more still needed to be done.
"While we still have some way to go to iron out the details, we are at least making progress in getting the policy makers to recognise that investment in the logistics sector will allow it to perform its essential function to its best abilities and will benefit the businesses that rely on an efficient supply-chain so greatly," she said.
According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance, 80 per cent of councils had their roads badly damaged by storms this winter, leaving a £400 million hole in maintenance budgets.