Lib Dems to table plan to get rid of Sheffield's 'Pothole City' image

3.04.43pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 31st Mar 2006

Labours neglect has lead to Sheffield being dubbed 'pothole city'

Liberal Democrats on Sheffield City Council are proposing a plan that would see road repairs increase by 70%. At a meeting of next weeks council they are to table the proposal which they envisage could help to get rid of Sheffield's image as 'pothole city'.

Lib Dems are proposing that 5% of the councils capital receipts are earmarked for road repairs. A capital receipt is income gained from selling properties and land. This would mean a £3m boost for the budget over three years. Crucially the Liberal Democrats proposal uses money from within existing budgets, so council taxpayers wouldn't face larger bills.

The current budget for carrying out repairs and filling in potholes between 2006 and 2009 stands at £4.4m, this would increase by 70% to £7.4m under the Lib Dems plan. The proposal is due to discussed and voted on at the 28th March meeting of full council next week.

The Labour controlled Sheffield City Council has come under fire for allowing Sheffield to become labelled as 'pothole city'. Only recently it was revealed that, under current budgets agreed by Labour, roads would only be resurfaced every 200 years.

Councillor Paul Scriven, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield, said: -

"Its clear that the state of our roads is a huge issue with many council taxpayers in Sheffield. The 'pothole' city image that Sheffield has acquired due to Labours lack of investment needs to be addressed, and our proposal would do just that"

"By earmarking a percentage of capital receipts we can boost the road maintenance budget by £3m, which works out at a 70% increase to current budgets. This would mean more potholes filled in and more roads resurfaced without any extra cost to the local taxpayer"

"At the council meeting next week we will be urging the Labour administration to put aside party politics and back our plan to improve Sheffield's roads for all. I believe its time taxpayers started to see the council invest in areas that matter most to them and tackling the state of our roads is one of our top priorities"

See a copy of the motion to be moved at the 5th April Council meeting below:-

That this Council: -

(a) believes that the condition of Sheffield's roads remains at unacceptable levels across the city;

(b) notes that under the previous administration the council had begun to address the condition of roads, originally brought about by years of neglect and financial incompetence under other previous administrations;

(c) regrets that the present administration have failed to build on this success and are, once again, neglecting Sheffield's roads and failing to recognise the seriousness of the situation which has led to Sheffield being labelled 'pothole city';

(d) furthermore regrets that the present administration, supported by the second opposition group, continue to prioritise many road repairs on the basis of their unfair 'favoured areas' policy and calls on the present administration to decide priority for road repairs on the basis of need rather than geographical area;

(e) supports the idea of using 5% of all capital receipts in order to provide a huge financial boost to the road maintenance programme, and notes this would see a significant increase in the road repairs budget of around 70%;

(f) therefore directs that;

(i) the chief executive commission a report which recommends how the council can facilitate the use of 5% of capital receipts in order to increase the road maintenance budget;

(ii) the current system of prioritising road maintenance is immediately amended so that potential schemes no longer score extra points for being in a favoured area.