Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, in his role as the Roads Minister for the Government, recently announced that nearly £5 million is to be spent on Herefordshire roads.

The West Midlands received £43,523,000 to maintain all of the roads across the counties this coming winter. The figures show that out of the some 43 million, £5,108,000 was given to Herefordshire to maintain the county roads.

Jesse Noman MP said: “Potholes are a huge problem for all road users, and too often we see issues occurring at the same place time after time.

“That is why the Government is investing £15 billion between 2015 and 2020 and a further £28.8 billion to 2025.”

This is in addition to an immediate extra £420 million for potholes and local road maintenance just this year.

Jesse Norman MP said: “The West Midlands will be getting an extra £43 million this winter to keep its roads in good condition to keep drivers and cyclists safe.”

There are over 2,000 miles of roads in Herefordshire, and more than 23,000 jobs were raised for carriageway repairs in the last financial year, with the council’s contractor Balfour Beatty Living Places carrying out repair works totalling £1.77 Million.

The money will allow Herefordshire Council to improve the condition of more than 50 roads in the county. A scheme of works is currently being planned.

In the next financial year which is 2019-2020, the West Midlands will get £110 million from the Local Highways Maintenance and Integrated Transport Block funds, which will go towards repairing roads and investing in bus priority or walking and cycling schemes.

Councillor Barry Durkin, Herefordshire Council cabinet member for transport and regulatory services, said: “We are delighted with this additional investment from the Department for Transport, which will help us to ensure that Herefordshire continues to have the best highways network possible for our motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

“Good roads are vital to ensure the continued growth and strengthening of Herefordshire’s economy, and tackling defects on our roads leads to improvements in journey time, quality and safety, for all road users.

“We also continue to improve the condition of our highways with planned maintenance, reducing the need for reactive repairs, which minimises disruption and leads to higher quality and better value throughout the full life of the roads.”

However, despite the announcement, some Ross residents are concerned about how much of the spending in Herefordshire will actually go towards roads in Ross-on-Wye.

This comes after it was recently made apparent Ross-on-Wye received less to improve the town’s roads than Bromyard, which received £166,024 and Leominster, which received £195,745. Following a Freedom of Information request by the Ross Liberal Democrats, it was found that Ross received £36,700 to spend on roads between 2017 and 2018.

Councillor Chris Bartrum recently told the Ross Gazette that a spend of on £36,700 was ‘terrible’ and described the amount as ‘next to nothing’.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.