Road safety group budget could be slashed
Councillors will debate the proposal on Tuesday at Full Council
A scheme that funds road safety initiatives determined by local people in their own neighbourhoods faces its budget being slashed by half.
At Wiltshire Council’s full council meeting on Tuesday, May 19, councillors will debate the proposed cuts to the Local Highways and Footpaths Improvements Group (LHFIG) budget.
The council’s opposition Conservative group says cuts threaten to strip local communities of both vital resources and decision-making powers over transport and road safety improvements in their areas.
The total LHFIG budget is around £750,000 a year, and funds are allocated to Area Boards based on their size.
A motion from Conservative councillors Philip Whitehead and Nick Holder raises concerns about the possible reduction in the LHFIG budget from an average of £25,000 to £12,500 at each of the county’s 18 Area Boards.
The motion says LHFIGs, which have been operating since 2022, have played a crucial role in supporting local interventions in highways.
“They have enabled the smallest village to act on matters that are important to them and have been key to reducing the impact of a centralised unitary authority which can be miles away from its residents – both literally and in reality,” say the authors of the motion.
Councillor Whitehead, who has served as chair of the Devizes Area LHFIG for over 10 years, will tell colleagues: “During that time we have implemented countless improvements to all areas, including numerous 20 mph introductions, dropped kerbs, road safety engineering, and many others – each one championed by the local parish or town.”
Between the LHFIGs and their predecessors, Community Area Transport Groups (CATg), over 2,000 schemes have been successfully delivered across the county, contributing significantly to improving safety, increasing accessibility, and promoting active travel.
Cllr Whitehead adds that “Over the years local parishes, town and city councils have contributed to the LHFIG budget from their own resources to about 20 per cent.
“Losing LHFIG will remove about £100,000 in additional external revenue funding to Wiltshire’s budget.”
The motion suggests that if the LHFIG budgets are reduced, the council should ask its overview and scrutiny management committee to set up a rapid action task group to determine whether or not LHFIGs should be continued.
The task group should also calculate the loss of contribution to Wiltshire Council by the individual parishes and towns that have enabled more projects to be completed.
The Liberal Democrat administration says parish councils have been consulted, and a final decision on the future funding of LHFIGs has yet to be made.