Devon County Council reports that it received a better than expected settlement from the Government last month to help tackle the overspend on education for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

This means that they are now in a position to make extra money available for road repairs and drainage and will be looking to invest another £10 million into the highway maintenance budget.

The proposed additional £10 million funding will be spent across the county with £7.25 million on extensive patching repairs targeting issues identified by highways officers, County Councillors, town and parish councils and communities. It will also pay for £2 million of drainage improvements and £750,000 will be added to the ongoing road marking replacement programme.

A spokesperson said: “Throughout the budget setting process it was recognised we needed to invest more in roads and we’re now in a position to potentially invest an extra £10 million in our highway network. The extremely wet weather over the past year has inflicted a huge amount of damage on our roads so this proposed funding is very much needed and will help prevent further decline in its condition.”

The additional funding would be on top of the £59.486 million we’re receiving from the Department for Transport (DfT) for our highway maintenance programme this year, which includes £23.4 million from the Government’s Pothole Fund and £6.663 million from the Government’s Network North funding.

Should the proposed additional £10 million be backed by Cabinet next month, our highway maintenance budget for this financial year will stand at over £72 million. As well as road maintenance this also covers bridge repairs, streetlight replacement and upgrading, road safety improvements, and maintenance of public rights of way and multi-use trails.

The proposal is due to go before our Cabinet on Wednesday 8 May – in response to recent budget discussions for additional investment in highways, including drainage.