Ross Town Council decided against expanding their current resurfacing scheme, opting instead to keep it to the original plans.

At the town council’s annual general meeting, it was decided that it would not be a good use of taxpayer money to expand on the scheme to resurface a number roads in the town. If it were to go ahead, the whole of Duxmere Drive, Roman Way and Eastfield Road would have been included.

The suggestion came up before the planning committee, who felt that the extension was costly and were unsure about where the money was going to come from. The extension was estimated to cost approximately £155,000 extra to the £300,000 already earmarked for the works. The current funds for the scheme have been taken from a larger £350,000 grant from the extraordinary market towns maintenance fund.

Cllr Jane Roberts said: “The extra funding that Balfour Beatty has quoted in order to do this is huge. A ridiculous amount of money, so I would recommend to this meeting that we do not extend the previous road resurfacing. If we did, we’d have to raise the money from our own sources, rather than from the extraordinary market towns maintenance fund. We can’t afford it.”

It was suggested that whilst the money isn’t available to extend the scheme, it could be budgeted for in the future. However, it was argued that that before taking hundreds of thousands of pounds out of next year’s budget, other priorities—such as pedestrian crossings, public transport infrastructure—ought to be considered too.

The planning committee have been asked to consider priorities for which schemes should be funded from next year’s budget, whether it’s further road resurfacing or another scheme.

News of the original plans were well received after they were mentioned during the former mayor, John Winder’s speech at the annual parish meeting last month (April 25).