Local Committee to discuss Highways Maintenance Budget 2003/04

On Tuesday 8th April, Allerdale Local Committee will be debating the impact of a greatly reduced local committee highways budget settlement and taking decisions about the local priorities for spending. 

This reduction has caused significant impact on all Cumbria's local committees. In total, Allerdale Local Committee's highways revenue budget has reduced by about 25% from last year. As well as this basic reduction there has been increases in the costs of central support, besides the increased cost of basic materials. In real terms, the impact of the budget settlement will mean over one third less work will be done 'on the ground'. A draft budget has been prepared so that the Local Committee can debate and decide on its most urgent priorities. 

County Councillor Barbara Cannon, Chair of the Local Committee says 

"The revenue budget for highways maintenance for 2003/04 has been considerably reduced when compared with 2002/03. We will have to look very carefully and assess just what are the key impacts on local service delivery. This budget settlement is a major concern for all our local committee members. It looks like we will have to pay more to improve the Highways Call Centre, run by Capita, to make sure there is a more responsive service. The public need to know about and get better feedback about the progress of their maintenance requests. We also need to invest in better 'in the cab' communications links so that our rapid response teams are deployed as efficiently as possible. But there is no escaping the fact that the money we have been given for real work done on the ground has decreased by over a third from last year."