Road users in Swindon pleased to hear of £30m four year improvement programme
The council wants to double its budget for road repairs over the next four years after securing new government funding
Drivers, cyclists and bus passengers in Swindon were all pleased to hear that the council is set to embark on a £30m, four-year programme of roads improvements across the borough.
And they had some suggestions of which roads they’d like to see prioritised for members of the authority’s cabinet who were meeting on Wednesday night to approve the plan and its attendant list of roads to be resurfaced.
The plan will be put forward by the member for highways, Councillor Chris Watts, who told the Local Democracy Reporter that it is possible to have a four year programme because the government has already told the council how much money it’s getting for road repairs in the next for financial years – increasing the budget in increments from the £4m now to £8.6m in four years’ time.
And the report to cabinet says the plan is to resurface more roads, meaning there should be fewer potholes needing small patching.
Julian Varian, who lives in north Swindon was all in favour: “I’m happy to hear it.
“The road from Thamesdown Drive into town, Cricklade Road is appalling, and then it joins Great Western Way, which is also pretty bad. So if the council want to throw money at the roads, I’m all in favour of it.”
Great Western Way was a bugbear for Tony Daniels, who drives into Swindon from Royal Wootton Bassett. He said: “There’s a lot of potholes on it, so that’s the road I use most and it’s pretty bad.”
“A proper job” was what Jacki Wilby and her husband Douglas hope to see the council’s contactors doing when the programme starts.
Mrs Wilby said: “Corporation Street, the road under the bridge from the college into town is pretty bad, that‘s one I’d like to see done.
Mr Wilby added: “It’s good if they’re going to resurface the roads – doing little patches lasts for a little while, but if water gets underneath it, it needs going again, of you might patch a small hole, but all the stuff under the surface around it has been worn or washed away and it’ll just get bigger.
“So if they do a proper job that’ll be good.”
Unlocking his bicycle from a stand in Fleming Way, keen cyclist Liam Callington said: “I use the Fley routes, which are pretty good, so I don’t have to go on the bigger roads that often – but there’s some roads in the town centre which aren’t great – Commercial Road is in a bit of a state and Station Road isn’t great.”
Waiting for a bus at the recently opened (and very smoothly surfaced) Fleming Way Bus Boulevard, Katherine Brown said: “If they’re sorting out the roads, that’s good, because there’s a awful lot of potholes.
“Swindon Road from Greenbridge up to Stratton is a pretty bad one.”