Wiltshire Council Highways Investment by Area Board.

I wish residents of Ethandune a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. I hope we have some great weather to be able to get out and enjoy the wonderful countryside that we are so lucky to live in.

Did you know that Wiltshire Council manages more than 2,800 miles of roads, with 356 miles of A-class roads, which carry the most traffic and has higher numbers of accidents. There are also 201 miles of B-roads, 1,042 miles of C-roads and 1,251 miles of unclassified roads in the county. The chart below indicates investment by Area Board in relation to miles of roads in each area. South West Wiltshire has the most miles of roads in Wiltshire and Westbury Area Board has the fewest. As a member of Westbury Area Board, I have always been aware that we have the lowest funding for highways, but the chart below explains why and outlines the huge investment that Wiltshire Council is making into our highways.

This road distance is reflected in the money spent on major maintenance for each area board, which includes resurfacing, patching, surface dressing and micro asphalt treatments.

Showing our highways investment by area board is a useful exercise, as it illustrates where money is spent and why – this is based on many factors, including length and type of roads, local geography and the results and analysis of our regular carriageway condition surveys. We have invested an extra £22m into Wiltshire highways – on top of the £20.7m we receive from the Government – and it is really making a difference on the county’s roads, with more resurfacing, more repairs and fewer potholes. We are now using Bobcat machines that can remove and replace large areas of road in a matter of minutes, before moving straight on to the next job. We’ve spent £1.1m on this brilliant piece of kit since April across our 18 area boards – and this could not have been staffed and deployed without our extra investment. There is much more to come, as we continue to invest significant sums into filling and preventing potholes, replacing and extending the life of our road surfaces, preventing flooding, replacing road signs and reinstating and painting new road markings. This extra investment is making a real difference in every one of our 18 area boards around the county. The most efficient way to report any issue on our roads is using the MyWilts App, which is free to download, and information is received in real time.

Suzanne Wickham – Wiltshire Councillor for Ethandune Email: Suzanne.wickham@wiltshire.gov.uk Mobile 07967 213336