Herefordshire Council says it is committing an extra £10 million for resurfacing the county’s roads between now and 2026.

Cabinet member for roads Coun Barry Durkin said this was in addition to the recent £107 million Network North grant from the Government for investment in county’s road network over the next 10 years.

It is also separate to the nearly £102 million the county is getting from the Local Transport Fund, in the wake of the cancellation of the northern HS2 project.

RELATED NEWS:

The county secured a further £2.6 million last year specifically for improvements to 30 minor C and U-class roads – a programme of work that has just finished.

This has improved over 133,000 square metres of road surface since November, equivalent to 15 football pitches, the council says.

Further “surface dressing” on around 470,000 sq m of priority roads is now planned over summer.

OTHER NEWS:

Coun Durkin said: “The condition of our roads is a huge priority for local residents and organisations.

“We have delivered on our promise to improve connectivity and links between our rural communities.”

Surface dressing “is the most cost-effective use of funding, and can extend the life of the road surface by up to 10 years”, he added.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

Overall, the council expects to spend £38.4 million on the county’s roads in the financial year just begun – about half of which will come from the Government.

This is an increase of more than 40 per cent on the £26.8 million spent in the last financial year.

Compared with the rest of the country, Herefordshire has an unusually high length of roads – put by the council at more than 2,100 miles – relative to its population.

It says it decisions on which stretches of the county's roads are prioritised for maintenance are based on “robust data on the severity of the issues”.