Mayor of Greater Manchester announces new £60 million fund to repair roads and pavements

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bev Craig, has announced the creation of a new £60 million Pothole Fund to deliver repairs to roads and pavements across the city-region.

The fund, taken from the city-region’s transport budget, will support repair and maintenance of around 125 km of road surface. Greater Manchester’s roads support around 2.5 billion journeys each year, and are used by buses, trams, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as motorists.

Damaged highways are a common and frustrating issue affecting drivers across the country, as well as being hazardous for people walking, cycling or wheeling. Cold and wet winters, more traffic, and heavier vehicles using the roads are just some of the contributing factors to the pothole problem.

The fund will be used to help keep the highways network safe and reliable, enabling transport teams to repair hotspots where surfaces are in poor condition, as well as resurface roads and pavements to prevent them from deteriorating in the first place.

The Mayor’s new fund will be a major boost to Greater Manchester’s 10 councils, with the amount each will receive based on an agreed funding formula. The £60 million is more than the annual budget the councils get collectively from central government each year to maintain their roads and pavements. Stockport will receive the third largest allocation of any borough, £6.82 million.

Bev Craig, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“Keeping our roads and pavements safe and well maintained is essential for a growing city region like Greater Manchester. That’s why I promised to create this new Pothole Fund that will benefit drivers and everyone who uses our roads to get around.

“Properly maintaining our roads will save motorists money on costly repairs. And by preventing potholes forming in the first place, councils won’t have to spend as much money on emergency road repairs.”

Cllr Grace Baynham, Stockport Council’s Cabinet Member for Parks, Highways and Transport Services, said:

“We welcome this funding, which we’ve been pushing for as part of our efforts to improve Stockport’s roads and highways. It will help us carry out important maintenance and repair work.

“However, maintaining a large and heavily used network requires sustained, long-term investment and greater funding over a number of years, and we will continue to make the case for Stockport to receive the support it needs.

“We will use this funding carefully to support priority work, including planned highway maintenance, carriageway patching, bridges and structures.”

Investment in highways recognises the vital role that well-maintained roads play in supporting the city region’s economy, by connecting communities and enabling people and goods to get around. Quality roads are also critical to the long-term success of the Bee Network and efforts to improve road safety.

The new fund aims to protect and improve the transport infrastructure in Greater Manchester that people rely on every day, improving the condition of roads, making them safer, improving reliability and reducing the risk of more costly repairs in the future.