GLOUCESTERSHIRE County Council is fast-tracking road repairs to improve conditions across the county following heavy criticism recently.

A programme of works, which the council is calling its ‘Summer of Resurfacing’, comes after councillors debated a motion to declare an emergency over the dire state of the roads in Gloucestershire at the end of June.

The motion, proposed by the Liberal Democrats, was voted down by the council’s Tory majority.

But the authority has now setup a “dedicated” programme to accelerate “some areas of operational work and ongoing improvements across our highways teams”. 

The programme is being funded by an additional investment of £1.27 million by the Council for 2023-24,

The council says the investment “is allowing teams to make more use of some of the more flexible and innovative approaches to help fix our roads.”

The council is responsible for maintaining almost 6000km of roads, with many have been affected by adverse winter weather in recent years.

The authority says it is “focusing heavily” on its £100m resurfacing programme, which has been supported by extra funding from central government.

This has allowed it to expand annual resurfacing plans and fast track repairs. 

More than 170 roads are set to be resurfaced across the county this year, supported by a programme of “new and innovative” methods of repairs.

They include eight new ‘find and fix’ teams, whose role is to find and repair potholes before they become a safety hazard; a spray injection pothole patcher machine; and the trial of new techniques to make repairs more resistant to the cold. 

Cllr Dom Morris, cabinet member responsible for highways and flooding at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We all want better roads, and we are committed to delivering them. 

“That’s why this summer we are carrying out a huge programme of repairs as part of our ‘summer of resurfacing’. 

“This year more than 170 roads will be resurfaced and our extra investment means that repairs can be made faster and more efficiently.  

“The Highways Transformation Programme is implementing changes to the way we deliver services including introducing ‘find and fix gangs’ to fix potholes earlier, spray injection patching which can fill up to 100 potholes in a day, and trialling innovative new materials to speed up repairs and help them last longer in bad weather. 

“Since April we’ve filled over 12,000 potholes and this summer we will be making more improvements to the roads than ever before. 

“These ideas and our £100 million resurfacing investment will deliver results for our residents.”

Councillors clashed at a meeting about road conditions on June 28, with the Lib Dems saying the Tory administration was in “total denial” about the “crisis” the highways department was in.

Highways cabinet member Dom Morris (C, Fairford and Lechlade on Thames) defended the actions being taken by the council to fix the issue,and gave details of everything that is being done to improve the county’s roads.

He also asked what the Lib Dems would have done if they had won the elections in 2021 as the authority was “minus £100 million".