Jamie Greene, local Conservative candidate for Cunninghame North has announced that his party will set aside £20 million a year for the next five years to tackle the growing pothole problem on Scotland’s road. Mr Greene and his local party delivered hundreds of local surveys across North Ayrshire and one of the primary problem local voters had on their list of gripes was the state of the roads.
These responses were fed back to their party HQ who last week announced the £100M Roads Maintenance Fund over the term of the next Scottish Parliament.
That would ensure local authorities had sufficient funds to address the widespread problem of potholes, while saving councils money further down the line in reduced compensation pay-outs.
A national survey published last month showed 80 per cent of drivers had swerved to avoid potholes in Scotland, higher than the UK average. The UK Government invests tens of millions in a specific pothole fund, but this is not currently replicated in Scotland.
It is hoped the additional funds would help fill nearly two million potholes over the course of the next five years. In terms of how it will work, councils would identify their own pothole problem, then apply to the fund for cash to help.
The local candidate said “I said I would listen to voters and their concerns and this is exactly what I am doing. Campaigning across North Ayrshire, the terrible state of the roads is clear to see.
I recall running a story on this in last year’s General Election with our local councillor Tom Marshall, and whilst some holes have been filled in the problem seems to have got worse in some areas. One of my campaign team lost his entire wheel the other day.
It is one of the top doorstep issues that came out of my local survey. It’s clear we need action to fix our road infrastructure. That’s why we’d set up a specific , ring-fenced £100 million Scottish Road Maintenance Fund to repair our roads over the course of the next parliament. Another example of simple, practical and sensible policies from the Scottish Conservatives.”