County council says extra £3.3m will be spent on fixing Nottinghamshire's roads

Nottinghamshire Council’s cabinet made the announcement as part of meeting on February 6 to discuss its budget proposals that will go to full council for approval at the end of the month.

Speaking during meeting, Coun Richard Jackson (Con), cabinet member for finance, announced the county will benefit from £3.3m extra funding after the Government’s grant settlement to local authorities was finalised.

Figures for the amount the council gets in the final settlement are not yet published but the £3.3m figure was confirmed in the meeting.

The council says the final settlement figure from the Government is more than expected.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) following the meeting, Coun Jackson said: “It’s £3.3m more than we expected, it’s a natural decision for us to invest that into the most important part of services we provide, what people see every day, which is repairing the road.”

The council has invested £66m in road repairs, such as resurfacing, pothole repairs and gully cleaning during the current financial year, which finishes at the end of March 2025.

Coun Sam Smith (Con), council leader, speaking to the LDRS, said the decision to direct all of the extra money straight into highway maintenance was “easy”.

He said: “When the finance director came to me and said ‘what are we going to do with this money – shall we put it back into reserves?’

“I said ‘absolutely not, we’re going to spend it on the priority of the residents and that’s roads’ – probably the quickest and best decision I’ve ever made.”

He added a full list of priority roads across the county which will benefit from the money is currently being drawn up – this will be announced at the full council meeting on February 27.

Also speaking to the LDRS, Coun Neil Clarke (Con), cabinet member for transport and environment, said the money will help to complete road repairs faster.

He said: “It means we can bring repairs that might have been schedules some time ahead in earlier – that is bound to show a remarkable increase and improvement in the road repairs in Nottinghamshire.”

With the extra £3.3m the council is now receiving around a £34m increase in grant funding from the Government.

Coun Kate Foale, Labour group leader, said: “Thanks to the Labour Government giving over £30m in extra funding to Nottinghamshire, the council’s books are balanced.

“With a Labour Government, Nottinghamshire has more money for social care, children’s care, and highways.

"This is a stark contrast to 14 years of cuts under the Tories and a welcome boost of investment in Nottinghamshire.”

The Conservative authority announced last week its intentions to increase its part of council tax bills by 4.84 per cent.

It is still expecting a cumulative funding shortfall of £21.8m to the 2028-29 financial year.