On February 3^rd Brighton & Hove Labour Leader, Cllr Gill Mitchell, wrote to Tory Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, urging his government not to cut pothole repair cash and last week, the Department for Transport have announced that £100million of extra cash will be shared out across all local highway authorities in England.

Labour welcomes this one-off cash, which is desperately needed following another severe winter which have led to Brighton & Hove suffering from further outbreaks of potholes. However, despite this £100million grant, the Tory-led Government are still planning to cut ongoing pothole repair funding by £65million from April this year.

The recent announcement of £100million matches last year’s pothole grant from Labour which helped councils deal with the increase in pot-hole-ravaged roads following a severe winter. Brighton & Hove received an extra £151,000, but it is not yet known how much the authority will receive this year.

Brighton & Hove Labour Leader, Cllr Gill Mitchell, said:

“Labour were deeply concerned that there could have been a £165million gap in funding for repairing potholes this year, following one of the most severe winters in living memory, so I am happy that the government have seen sense and matched last year’s Labour grant to council to deal with the extra potholes that need repairing.

“I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt compelled to contact the Transport Secretary, urging him help councils like Brighton & Hove with our pothole problems, but I’m glad to see that following my actions, something has been done.

“However, Labour remains concerned that pothole repair funding overall will still be cut from April this year and that this one-off grant will simply act as a stick-tape solution to what is a longer-term problem of our infrastructure, which realistically needs considerable ongoing investment.”