County roads chief says ‘huge investment’ is making a difference

County transport chief Mark Shaw has told of his delight at the progress made this year in repairing Buckinghamshire’s roads.

Almost £8m has been spent already in this financial year on large-scale road repairs by Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB). This already amounts to more than the entire budget for 2013/14 work – with around a further £17m still to invest before the end of next March.

And Cllr Shaw, who took over as County Council Cabinet Member for Transportation in May, says the difference is really beginning to show.

“I am really pleased that through hard work and a tremendous amount of planning we have been able to deliver a significant proportion of the roads resurfacing programme already this year”, he said.

“The County Council is making huge investments in our roads and we will continue to deliver the best roads that we can, given the budgetary constraints we are under.”

He added: “In total, we have completed 37 of our 291 schemes so far, with work taking place right across the county. We know that there is still lots to do, but hopefully residents will start to see some good improvements, and there is still a huge amount of work in the pipeline”.

Mike Freestone, Director of Transport Services at Buckinghamshire County Council said, “The delivery of this year’s capital roads improvement programme has seen a significant step change in both the magnitude and quality of work outputs, helped undoubtedly by a better, more focused planning process and good levels of supervision and control. This sets a new benchmark in the delivery of these programmes designed to enhance the condition of our roads.

“Recent years have shown a steady improvement in the condition of our roads and this year’s stretched programme being so well delivered augurs well for a step change when the roads are surveyed again next year.”