Rural roads to receive £3m of repairs

Council succeeds in bid for Government funding

West Berkshire’s rural roads are in line for improvements after the council secured £3m of Government funding.

The council said that the cash would cover approximately 28 miles of repairs, including substantial sections of the A338 north of Hungerford Newtown and the B4000 through the Lambourn Valley.

The resurfacing will also include the A329 from Lower Basildon through to Streatley and the A340 from Theale to the M4.

The council bid for a share of the Department for Transport’s Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund and was one of 19 councils in England, outside of London, to be successful.

The application was for 11 specified sites across West Berkshire, where roads required urgent maintenance, some of which were affected by winter flooding over the last two years.

It also includes repairs to roads in Aldermaston and Crookham Hill.

West Berkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Jeanette Clifford (Con, Northcroft) said: “We’re absolutely delighted that our bid to central Government for funding to improve roads, bridges and other structures in rural parts of our beautiful district has proved successful.

“It’s important to us that we do all we can to support our rural communities, and maintaining good transport links is one of the best ways to do this.

“We’ll be starting the work almost immediately and we’re looking forward to seeing the results.”

Newbury MP Richard Benyon said he was delighted by the news.

He said: “This is £3m extra in the pot, which will make a huge difference to the amount of work that West Berkshire Council’s highways department can do to maintain our roads and bridges.

“These projects can now be brought forward, which will help keep traffic moving and bridges open with the minimum of delay and disruption.”

The works are expected to be complete by the end of April 2018.

Source: http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/news/22055/rural-roads-to-receive-3m-of-repairs.html