Moray Council’s road maintenance budget for 2021/22 will be £8.5m, an increase of £3m from the previous year, after its budget was passed by the council’s Economic Growth, Housing and Environmental Sustainability Committee.
The council said that full carriageway resurfacing will provide longer-term benefits and announced that there will be an increased investment within the column replacement programme to allow acceleration of the work.
Largely due to interruptions to planned work in 2020/21 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme of resurfacing, drainage and street lighting works will be rolled over into this year.
The council’s winter maintenance expenditure for last year was £2.25m, with a particularly busy period in December, January and February, with an almost daily gritting service throughout.
Commenting, Leader of Moray Council and Chair of the authority’s Economic Growth, Housing and Environmental Sustainability Committee, Councillor Graham Leadbitter said:
“The committee consensus is that spending on our roads network will need to be revisited, but for now, our hard working teams will continue to catch up with the programme of resurfacing and maintain our roads to the best of their ability.
“In the council’s recent budget, councillors agreed to carry forward a significant underspend that resulted from Covid restrictions and our Roads Maintenance Service will therefore be carrying out significantly more work than normal this year.
“Looking beyond that, we will need to take stock of how that catch up work progresses through the year and what is needed for future years.”
