The Tories new cuts to roads in Swindon will cost motorists, but it also hits small businesses and endangers all road users, including cyclists and bikers.
The state of Britain’s local roads has been found to be the number one gripe among drivers in the RAC Report on Motoring 2015.
One in 10 motorists (10%) said the condition of local roads was their top concern, while a further 20% listed the issue as one of their top four concerns. Half (50%) of the 1,555 motorists surveyed for the report – now in its 27th year – believe the condition of roads in their area has deteriorated in the past 12 months.
Road conditions are a particularly big worry in the South West of England, where one in five (19%) motorists say this is their top concern.
In Swindon, the Tory cabinet approved a cut of £2.5m for Highways maintenance schemes in the borough in June 2015 from £5.9m in 2014/15 to £3.38 in 2015/16, which funds roads and footpath maintenance.
Commenting on the report, Jim Grant, Leader of the Labour Group on Swindon Council said “This report highlights once again what a desperate state our roads in Swindon have got to under the Tories and their abject failure to fix Pothole Britain.
“The Tories new cuts to roads in Swindon will cost motorists, but it also hits small businesses and endangers all road users, including cyclists and bikers.
“Frankly for a town that is growing at the rate Swindon is and with more and more cars on our roads, we need more investment on our roads, not less as Swindon’s Conservative Councillors are proposing. The Labour Group had previously proposed using some of the remaining New Homes Bonus, which provides the Council with millions of pounds of income each year, on roads and footpath resurfacing and the Conservatives have kept blocking this but now we can see the impact of the Conservatives’ decision.”