Bolton pothole problem to be filled with a cash injection

It comes after the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced an additional investment of £200 million in the budget for this year on top of the annual investment from a Spending Review around two years ago.

The government allocated £6 million to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) which meets this week to confirm the allocations for each of its 10 boroughs.

Bolton is set to receive £678,214 to tackle the problem of potholes on its roads, the fourth largest amount after the boroughs of Manchester, Stockport and Wigan.

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In March, Mr Hunt said: “Following a cold and wet winter, I received representations from my honourable friends as well as a councillor from my own constituency about the curse of potholes.

“I decided to increase the [Pothole Fund] by £200 million to help communities to tackle this problem.”

At around the same time as this announcement The Bolton News reported the council was in the top 10 authorities in England and Wales in terms of the number of potholes reported in 2022.

Its leader Cllr Nick Peel said the additional investment was nowhere near enough after years of “austerity”.

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Cllr Peel said: “We’ll welcome any cash into the borough but it does not go far to replace the tens of millions we’ve lost since austerity started for road repairs. 

“It is difficult for the council to plan for road repairs on the basis of one-off grants.

“The government needs to allow us to plan properly for the future by giving us a regular stream of income rather than one-off grants.

“It does not allow us to plan properly for the future and it is no way for a council to run, let alone a government to run.”

The GMCA meets this week to confirm these allocations for each of its 10 boroughs:

Bolton – £678,214 
Bury – £452,320
Manchester – £844,130
Oldham – £544,240
Rochdale – £542,643
Salford – £557,726
Stockport – £705,897
Tameside – £515,493
Trafford – £516,735
Wigan – £853,003

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.

Source – INDIA TV