HS2 money for fixing roads branded 'pitiful'

A leading councillor has blasted cash allocated for fixing potholes in his borough - as compensation for the scrapping of the HS2 Manchester link - as ‘pitiful’. Trafford’s Green party leader Coun Michael Welton said the £369,000 allocated would barely fix 600 metres of the authority’s roads.

He was addressing the authority’s executive as members discussed a budget monitoring report. Coun Welton was speaking about the Network North Highways Fund for 2024/25 which comes to Trafford via the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

“I believe this is the money we’ve got for fixing the roads that was supposed to be spent on HS2,” he said. “It’s not the council’s fault, but it seems like a pitiful amount which will enable only 600 metres of road to be fixed.”

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The report referred to a ‘programme of works’ for the borough’s roads detailing specifically where work would take place, but Coun Welton was told by the director of finance Graeme Bentley that this was not yet available. Following the meeting, Coun Welton went further to criticise what he said were ‘broken promises’ from the last government over the trade-offs for the scrapping of HS2.

He said: “£369,000 will barely slow the overall decline of Trafford’s roads, let alone start to improve them. Residents deserve to know the reality behind the broken Conservative promise that Trafford’s roads would be fixed with money saved from HS2.

“Councils cannot maintain the roads if the Department of Transport doesn’t give them enough money to do so. We call on the new Labour government to provide councils with adequate, consistent funding, so they can provide the basic services residents