Roads in London are to be resurfaced as part of a £235m project using funds redirected from HS2.
The department for transport (DfT) said allocations for each London borough and Transport for London (TfL) have been confirmed, allowing authorities to start spending immediately on vital road repairs.
The allocations are based on the size of the road network that local authorities and TfL maintain respectively.
These include funding boosts over the next year of £354,000 for Hillingdon, £455,000 for Bromley and £368,000 for Barnet, with London boroughs immediately receiving around 96% of the £7.5 million first-year funding, and TfL approximately 4%.
Last month, the transport secretary announced the total amount of additional funding that will be provided to maintain London’s roads over the next 11 years which will improve journey times and could save motorists up to £440 in vehicle repairs to fix the damage caused by potholes.
The funding is part of an £8.3 billion plan – enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of roads across England.
The DfT said this was the largest ever investment into road repairs and improvements and part of the government’s Network North pledge to improve journeys for all.
It added that councils would be held accountable for how they spend the money by being required to publish regular updates on the proposed works - and they could see future money withheld if they fail to do so.
“This government is on the side of drivers and is investing £235 million to improve and repair London’s roads, part of the biggest-ever funding uplift for local road improvements,” said transport secretary Mark Harper.
“This funding is part of a long-term, 11-year plan to ensure road users across London have smoother, faster and safer journeys by using redirected HS2 funding to make the right long-term decisions for a brighter future.”
Referring to the Network North programme, Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Whatever your view on HS2 there won’t be many people who begrudge this significant amount of money being spent tackling potholes which have become a perennial problem.
“Hopefully this cash will start to reverse the dreadful state of local roads, which millions of drivers are only too well aware of.”
