Funding plea as Council confirms the 31 roads in this year's resurfacing programme

This year's highways maintenance programme is under way in Stockton-on-Tees, with 31 roads set to benefit from resurfacing and patching schemes in the coming months.

Work on the first of the streets has started and this year's programme will be completed by the end of March 2023.

Councillor Mike Smith, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: "We know the upkeep of the Borough's roads is very important to our residents and we are fully committed to improving our roads.

"But we'd like to do more, and although it's a priority for us we simply don't receive enough funding to embark on the kind of widespread improvement programme we'd like to see.

"In fact, there isn't a council in the country that has the funding to catch-up on its entire road maintenance backlog. This is a national issue which the Local Government Association estimates would cost £10billion and take more than a decade to clear."

A recent Scrutiny Review revealed the Council faced a £4million shortfall in funding for the Borough's highways infrastructure last year, as well as having to contend with the rising cost of materials.

In the last financial year an extra 26 streets in the Borough benefited from road resurfacing or patching work after the Council's Cabinet agreed to commit £400,000 of one-off COVID recovery monies to the additional work.

The majority of the 26 roads were due to be in this year's programme before they were brought forward.

In February the Council also agreed to commit an additional £200k a year for the next two years to increase the carriageway improvements being carried out.

The following 31 roads will benefit from resurfacing or patching work in the highways maintenance programme for the 2022 to 2023 financial year:

• Bath Lane
• Bishopton Road
• Broomhill Avenue
• Cheshire Road/Leicester Road
• Cowpen Lane
• Dale Grove
• Darlington Road
• Dunelm Road
• Green Lane
• Haresfield Way
• Harrowgate Lane
• Imperial Avenue
• Low Grange Avenue
• Letch Lane
• Malcolm Drive /Rimswell Road
• Morrison Street
• Nelson Terrace
• Nevern Crescent
• Oxbridge Lane
• Piper Knowle Road/Scurfield Road
• Prince Regent Street
• Ragpath Lane
• Redmarshall Road
• Seal Sands Road
• Seal Sands Link Road
• Tedder Avenue
• The Ring Road A1027
• Thornaby Road
• Urlay Nook Road/Yarm Road
• Vicarage Avenue
• Yarm Road

Councillor Smith said: "We prioritise the resurfacing and patching programme according to our roads' condition and try to target the resources we have in a way that will help prevent costly repairs down the line.

 "Of course, we'll continue to look at opportunities to maintain the Borough's roads as efficiently as possible, both now and in the future.

"This will include exploring 'invest to save' opportunities through new technology and increasingly using more sustainable materials like 'rubber roads' which involves using end of life car tyres mixed with traditional materials. This reduces the amount of tyres going to land-fill sites for an environmentally stable surface that contributes to our Environmental Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Strategy."

Correspondence has also been sent to local MPs urging them to lobby Central Government for additional funding.

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