The amount Greater Manchester will get for potholes from the HS2 …

Greater Manchester will get nearly £300m to fix potholes over 11 years with funds coming from the money saved by cancelling the northern leg of HS2^[1]. The city-region is set to receive £296m in total with an additional £8.9m available for this year and next year.

It comes after the Prime Minister announced last month that plans for a new high-speed railway from London to Manchester would not go ahead with the multi-million pound line, ending at Birmingham instead. Speaking at the Conservative Party^[2] conference in Manchester, Rishi Sunak promised that every penny of the £36bn saved would be spent on ‘hundreds’ of other transport projects.

This includes the creation of what he named ‘Network North^[3]‘, which involves improvements to road, rail and bus schemes. However, a document released by the government after Mr Sunak’s speech revealed that around a quarter of it will be spent on fixing potholes^[4].

The 40-page report by the Department for Transport (DfT) also revealed that 60 per cent of the £8.3bn earmarked to ‘tackle the scourge of potholes’ is set to be spent outside the North of England. The government has now announced where it will be spent.

Around 40 per cent of the cash – £3.3bn in total – will go towards local authorities in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber, while £2.2bn will be spent in the Midlands. Councils in Greater Manchester will get £296m of this over the next 11 years.

The government had already confirmed £5.5bn of funding up until the next financial year, which includes the £200m announced by the Chancellor at the budget in March. The extra £8.3bn announced last week comes on top of that and extends the funding until 2034.

The city-region will also see an uplift in funding for road repairs worth £4.4m in both this and the following year. Transport secretary Mark Harper said this is the ‘biggest ever’ uplift in funding for local road improvements, describing it as a ‘victory for all road users’.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “For too long politicians have shied away from taking the right long-term decisions to make life easier for hardworking families – tackling the scourge of potholes being a prime example. Well-maintained road surfaces could save drivers up to £440 each in expensive vehicle repairs, helping motorists keep more of the cash in their pocket.

“This unprecedented £8.3bn investment will pave the road for better and safer journeys for millions of people across the country and put an end to the blight of nuisance potholes.”

Announcing the funding last week, transport secretary Mark Harper said: “Most people travel by road and potholes can cause misery for motorists, from expensive vehicle repairs to bumpy, slow, and dangerous journeys. Our £8.3 billion boost to repair roads across the country shows that we’re on the side of drivers.

“Today’s biggest ever funding uplift for local road improvements is a victory for all road users, who will enjoy smoother, faster and safer trips – as we use redirected HS2 funding to make the right long-term decisions for a brighter future.”

References

1. ^{^} cancelling the northern leg of HS2 (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Conservative Party (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Network North (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
4. ^{^} a quarter of it will be spent on fixing potholes (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
5. ^{^} The places in Greater Manchester getting Levelling Up cash in latest government announcement (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
6. ^{^} Today’s top Manchester Evening News stories (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)