1:30pm Tuesday 30th March 2010
By Richard Gurner
Council bosses have announced a £15million repair programme to fix Sussex's battered roads.
West Sussex County Council has said it will divert money from other capital schemes to permanently repair the worst roads affected by potholes.
This year the council has already filled more than 20,000 cracks but has admitted most of these have only received temporary fixes.
Council leader Henry Smith said: “The last two winters have had a devastating impact on our roads. The independent Audit Commission has previously rated our roads among the best in the country.
“However, after the recent severe weather we have been left with roads that need serious and sustained work.
“We want to return the roads to the best condition residents rightly expect but to do this we need to find a substantial amount of money to fund permanent and lasting repairs.
“The cabinet has therefore decided to defer some schemes from the planned programme of Highways and Transport works for 2010/11 and use the money to pay for permanent repairs on our roads.”
The £15m programme is being financed through £5m of existing road maintenance budgets, £8.7m from delaying other council-funded projects and £1.3m in Government grants, which was announced in last week's budget.
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