Rochdale Council to bid for share of £168million to fix potholes

Pothole in Castleton

Rochdale Council will be making a bid to to receive a share of the £168 million pothole fund. If successful, the fund will provide the council with money to repair local roads making them safer for motorists, cyclists and other road users.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Borough Council said: We will be bidding for our share of the £168m, which will be submitted ahead of the May deadline. Work will begin once resources are made available.”

The £168 million fund was announced in the Chancellor’s March budget statement. The fund is enough to fix more than 3 million potholes and comes in addition to the £10 billion set aside for local road maintenance that is already being provided to councils in England between 2010 and 2021.

Successful local authorities will sign a Pothole Pledge as a condition of the funding, setting out the number of potholes they will have repaired by March 2015.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Part of this government’s long term plan is investing in our roads. Potholes are a menace for all road users which is why this extra funding is provided in addition to the £10 billion already committed for councils for road maintenance. I want councils to rise to the challenge and to reward councils who come up with new and better ways of making repairs quickly and effectively.

“With this new pothole fund councils will need to clearly set out the scale of the work they are doing, and local communities can have certainty that the money is being spent fixing potholes on their local roads.”

Rochdale Council has until Thursday 22 May to submit their bid to the Department of Transport. A track record of best practice or proposals for innovative solutions will be recognised as part of the bidding process. This could potentially lead to increased funding for those councils.