Council set to spend less than five per cent of its budget earmarked to fix potholes
09.02.2022 - 16:59
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Bury Council has spent just a tiny fraction of its budget to fix potholes over the past year as road workers were diverted to cover staff shortages on bin collection rounds.
For the 2021/22 year, the council’s revised budget at the end of December showed that £2,955,000 had been earmarked for fixing potholes.
However, figures show that the council is forecasting a spend of just £146,000 from its ‘potholes fund’ in the 12 months up to the end of March, 2022.
Bury’s council leader Eamonn O’Brien said part of the issue was that team members normally assigned to fix potholes had been diverted in recent months to help with staff shortages on bin collection services.
Speaking at a scrutiny meeting about council budget matters Radcliffe First councillor Carol Birchmore the leader about why less than five per cent of the money to fix road imperfections had been spent.
She, said: “You’ve underspent on potholes by £2.8M.
“That’s a lot of potholes and a lot of very upset residents who would love to see them repaired.
“I can’t help wondering why is this the case?”
Council leader Eamonn O’Brien said several issues had led to the underspend but the money allocated to fix potholes would be rolled over to the next financial year.
He said: “There is an underspend but that’s not because there’s a lack of potholes.
“It’s related to the fact that the team has been under pressure and has been impacted by Covid.
“I have got reassurance from the team that in the last month they’ve managed to spend another £250,000 on repairing potholes.
“We are getting back into the that cycle now of spending that money, of fixing potholes and we’re set to fix more potholes than ever before because of that investment.
“It is happening, it is a