Devon County Council agree to invest an extra �5 million in maintaining the county’s roads.

The county’s roads are to benefit from more than �5.7 million of additional funding after Devon County Council agreed its budget. The council has agreed to invest an extra �5 million to maintain c-class roads and other minor routes, and help fund around 400 maintenance schemes - restoring around 50 miles of roads.

The package of funding also includes an extra �260,000 for parish lengthsmen which will be used to increase the frequency of visits to parishes, �150,000 for weed spraying, targeted at urban sites, �250,000 for improved highway drainage to reduce the incidence of localised flooding and �100,000 for gulley maintenance to ensure that problem areas that are prone to flooding are better prepared to cope with the increased incidence of localised heavy rainfall.

The county has been praised for its efficient use of the winter damage grant by the Department for Transport and the AA also praised the county last year for “turning around” the problem of potholes on its network.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “This money will go someway to improve the condition of the c-roads and unclassified roads.

“By concentrating this funding on these routes we can make significant progress in preventing the deterioration of some of our minor but locally important roads for our communities, and Devon’s economy.

“As well as improving the condition of the road surface, this longer term investment will also enable future savings on pothole repairs.”