Suffolk Highways needs £50m a year to fix county roads

On Tuesday, Suffolk County Council's Scrutiny Committee showed that an average of £17.78m had been invested into road surfacing over the last six years.

However, the authority stated that to bring roads to an "optimal level" the council will need £50.4m of investment annually.

This money would be used to fix potholes and maintain roads, which the council described as "costly" and in need of further investment.

Currently, there are 463.1 miles of county roads that are on 'high alert' - which is down 38.3% compared to 2012. 

The head of contract management and commissioning Ben Cook said in Tuesday's meeting: "We have not got the funding we need and sometimes it feels like we are beaten for that."

Residents in towns and villages across Suffolk have raised concerns about the state of their roads in recent months and years, with potholes a particular issue.

Trinity Avenue in Mildenhall even had signs saying 'Pothole Avenue' put up due to the condition of the carriageway.

'Pothole Avenue' in Mildenhall - actually named Trinity Avenue (Image: Karl Brown)

Meanwhile, in March Ipswich saw a "sinkhole" appear in High Street, next to the museum, which residents subsequently mocked using fishing rods. 

Suffolk Highways has also spent £275,296 between October 2023 and March 2024 to fix potholes in Ipswich alone. 

Residents mocked the sinkhole with a fishing rod. (Image: Alasdair Ross)

Head of operational highways John Clements said that the reduction in the number of roads on 'high alert' was thanks to a £21m council investment between 2017 and 2021.

However, as the investment has now ended the future of Suffolk roads is uncertain.

He added that £50m might look like a large number but it means that on average each parish in the county will have a budget of £105,000.

"We use a lot of different parameters of data to inform where we spend every pound here in Suffolk to extract the best value we can," said Mr Clements.

Cllr Paul West said that people demand the highest standards of roads. (Image: Suffolk County Council)

Cabinet member for Ipswich, operation highways and flooding Paul West added to this, saying that the county needs greater investment to secure its roads.

He added: "I think the public rightly demand the very highest standards."

There is some investment coming in the next financial year, as government funding is increased from £30.6m to £37.3m, which Mr Clements described as a "welcome increase". 

Cllr Jessica Fleming was surprised at the amount of money the council received from the government. (Image: Mid Suffolk District Council)

However, vice-chairman of the council Jessica Fleming was surprised at how little was being invested by the national government.

She said: "It seems to me terribly little and considering 17% of the money the government raises is coming to English local authorities seems dreadfully little. 

"I think this is something we need to speak up about, to the new government here which we have and say the local roads here are facing the front of the impact from growth."

To this, Mr West agreed and said he is happy to lobby with the government to bring extra funding to the county.

Cllr Nadia Cenci said that they should do more to make people aware of highway worker's work. (Image: Contributed)

Councillor Nadia Cenci, who also sits as the deputy cabinet member for property and county farms, touched on the point that such works aren't popular and that the council should do more to make people aware of it.

Mr Cook said this is something the council needs to pursue as currently there is an uptick in abuse faced by highway workers.