The leader of Plaid Cymru on Caerphilly County Borough Council has called for the Labour-run body to boost spending on road maintenance.
Cllr Colin Mann has called for the budget increase after claiming the state of roads around the borough are worse now than when his party left office in 2012.
He said: “The council has talked about 20% cuts in funding between 2017 and 2021, leading to worsening roads and delays in repairs. My view is that this would be unacceptable.
“We cannot allow our roads to deteriorate further. People paying their council tax expect a decent service and rather than cutting spending the Labour council should be increasing funding, as the former Plaid Cymru administration did.
Highway maintenance spending was reduced from £7,910,771 in the 2015/16 budget to £7,630,536 for 2016/17.
Mr Mann added: “When we left office in 2012 roads were in a good condition. That has to be a priority now. Allowing roads to deteriorate will only inevitably lead to more claims for compensation from motorists so it makes no sense to cut spending.”
Caerphilly County Borough Council pointed to current ongoing road resurfacing works across the borough which total more than £2.35 million.
Where have you been man?
Caerphilly roads set for resurfacing works
Published in News on Tuesday May 31st, 2016.
If you propose lots more money be spent, at the moment of austerity and limited budgets, please suggest to all the ratepayers of the Borough, WHERE DO YOU PROPOSE THE MONEY COMES FROM? AND WHAT BUDGETS WOULD YOU CUT TO DIVERT MONEY TO `ADDITIONAL` ROAD WORKS TO THOSE ALREADY PROPOSED BY THE LABOUR COUNCIL?.