West Dunbartonshire given £160k to fix potholes

Feb 4 2011 by Lorraine Waddell, Lennox Herald (main ed)

SKINT West Dunbartonshire Council has been handed more than £160,000 to fix pothole-plagued roads in the region.

The Scottish Government last week dished out cash to all local authorities to deal with the effects of the severe winter weather which hit the country towards the end of last year.

The government has stumped up £15million in total across Scotland – tripling last year’s amount.

Announcing West Dunbartonshire’s allocation, finance secretary John Swinney said: “Scotland has just experienced its coldest December in 100 years and thousands of people have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months to keep our roads passable.

“West Dunbartonshire Council now has to deal with the problem of potholes and the exceptional costs of the extra roads maintenance needed this winter.

“Overall the money we are providing is three times last year’s amount and I believe the severity of the conditions faced by all councils merits an increase of that size.”

The pothole cash allocation is based on a Scottish Government formula and one of the criteria is the length of roads in the region.

It is expected that the money will be used to continue the find and fix method which West Dunbartonshire Council has been carrying out on potholes since December.

Specialist teams have been driving around routes in the region and filling in areas where the tarmac has broken up.

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokeswoman said: “We welcome this additional contribution from the Scottish Government to deal with the after effects of the most severe winter in 100 years.

“The additional £166,000 funding for this financial year will be used immediately to continue our ongoing prioritising of repairs to both damaged carriageways and footways which has resulted from the severe cold weather during December.”

The winter budget was also back on the agenda at last week’s full West Dunbartonshire Council meeting.

It was revealed that council proposals for the coming financial year, which are yet to be agreed, include cutting part of the roads maintenance budget by more than £150,000.

However, the cash set aside for winter materials is set to increase from £87,570 to £115,000.

Leven Councillor John Millar said: “I am pleased that the winter materials budget has been increased to help us face the challenges and increased costs associated with worsening winter weather.

“I believe that this increase is the result of the scrutiny by opposition councillors.”

Potholes can be reported by residents via the website www.fillthathole.org.uk or by calling West Dunbartonshire Council on 01389 737633 or through the out-of-hours roads and lighting fault line on 0800 373 635.