ENEWS
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EXTRA
• Hauliers do not need to read the latest national road maintenance survey to find out that our roads are still deteriorating.
Nonetheless, the Government has just decided to call a halt to all planned road reconstruction work until the end of March next year.
Eight months of neglect and the inevitable bad winter are going to make the ruts and potholes that are an unwelcome feature of so many roads far worse by the time the postponed roadworks get going again.
Many of the Government's decisions on roads have attracted critism over the years, and the Department of Transport's decision to put on ice the near-E100 million earmarked for repair and renewal this fiscal year is already being attacked by road transport experts.
Reading between the lines of opaque statements in the Commons by Transport Secretary Paul Channon, it is clear that there has been a fundamental miscalculation in the DTp's road building and maintenance budget.
OVERSPEND
Tenders had been coming in up to 20% higher than had been anticipated and, although retendering has been ordered, the DTp was on the road to severe financial overspend, just 12 weeks into its new year.
Rather than incur Treasury wrath by demanding a relaxation of its planned spending total, the DTp seems to have scrapped its resurfacing and reconstruction projects in order to safeguard its roadbuilding schemes.
The DTp has confirmed that 18 maintenance schemes are under review or have been rescheduled. It seems that they will be postponed so that payment can come from next year's budget.
It has also confirmed through Roads Minister Peter Bottomley that the Government's much-vaunted commitment to clearing the national road repair backlog by 1992 is no longer likely to be achieved. This date had been firmly fixed by DTp officials as an unbreakable target For it to be abandoned in this shabby way is a major blow to Ministry pride — and to road users.