Royston road repairs delayed for months to save council cash
Terry Douris, executive member for HCC's highways and waste management branch - Credit: Archant
Repairs to a Royston road will be delayed for months after Hertfordshire County Council had to suspend work to stay within its budget.
Repairs to a Royston road will be delayed for months after Hertfordshire County Council had to suspend work to stay within its budget.
Baldock Road was due to be resurfaced in September but road maintance works have been put on hold until 2015.
Due to emergency repairs being carried out on bridges, embankments and sink holes, as well as unforeseen problems on the county’s roads, Hertfordshire County Council has put the breaks on 142 schemes.
It is hoped this will save about £3m.
Terry Douris, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “While we were successful in bidding for additional government funding last year, and the county council itself invested extra money, it’s still not enough to cover the remaining schemes that we had planned to deliver this year.
“As a result we’ve reached a point where we have had to suspend the majority of the remaining maintenance schemes on the 2014/15 programme in order to avoid a significant overspend on the budget.
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“I appreciate this news will come as a disappointment to those residents and road users in the areas affected and for this I apologise.”
Leader of Royston Town Council John Smith said he had not noticed that the road needed resurfacing.
He said: “Last winter the weather was particularly bad for that sort of thing, so we must hope that it won’t be that bad this year.”
Work to five roads in Baldock, Hitchin and Letchworth have also been pushed back.
In total more than £20m worth of roadworks will be put on hold until April 2015.