£8.4million to be used to improve Derbyshire's roads in next two months

Derbyshire County Council is to spend £8.4million of Government cash to make improvements to the area's roads.
Potholes have been appearing on roads across Derbyshire after recent wintry weather.Potholes have been appearing on roads across Derbyshire after recent wintry weather.
Potholes have been appearing on roads across Derbyshire after recent wintry weather.

The authority wants to use the funding from the Department for Transport to fix more potholes, resurface country lanes, rebuild retaining walls and repair drains.

Councillor Simon Spencer, the council's cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, said: "We're delighted to have received this funding which is on top of the £36m the county council is already investing in its roads this year.

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"One of the conditions is that the cash is spent before April, so we're on a very tight timescale.

"We're employing extra pairs of hands to support our regular workforce and additional specialist equipment and materials. This will help speed up repairs so that we can get our roads and pavements in a much better condition as quickly as possible.

"These extra resources are also helping us to clear a backlog of drainage issues which we need to tackle before they create wider pothole problems."

He added: "We know the work we are carrying out may cause some extra disruption, but it will be worth it in the end.

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"We're grateful for everyone's patience while we get on making the roads safer for all of us to use."

The £8.4m is being used to:

• repair roads and paths in advance of more major work such as surface dressing - £2.7m

• resurface unclassified (unnumbered) roads - £2.3m

• repair and rebuild retaining walls and carry out improvements to bridges, such as installing safety barriers - £1.6m

• fix potholes - £800,000

• resurface paths - £500,000

• carry out drainage works linked to road and path repairs and resurfacing to cut down on future maintenance work - £500,000