Savings bring repairs to 50 miles of Surrey roads (From Surrey Comet)

Savings bring repairs to 50 miles of Surrey roads

11:41am Tuesday 19th February 2013 in News By Laura Proto

Almost 50 miles of road will be repaired at no expense to the taxpayer as part of plan to improve highways in the next five years.

Contractor May Gurney worked with Surrey County Council and its supply chain to provide a 15 per cent discount on the council’s £100m roads contract during negotiations last year.

The council will put the £15m savings back into the highways budget, which will pay for 50 miles of repair.

An investment of £25m for five years was recently announced by the council to tackle the root cause of potholes.

The funding will come from the 1.99 per cent increase in council tax which was approved last week.

John Furey, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “The recent council tax decision was a pivotal moment for Surrey’s roads because it now means we have the money available to take huge strides in improving them.

“Over the next five years we’ll completely overhaul many of the worst roads in a bid to tackle the root cause of potholes.”

The council’s five year road improvements plan is hoped to bring £21m of savings.