Thank you to everyone who took the time to write to me about the state of the roads and the amount of potholes in Thanet.
I completely agree with you about the appalling state of Thanet’s roads. Since the bad weather at the start of this year, the condition of the roads and tarmac has deteriorated significantly, with almost every major road in the area having some kind of damage, which is causing dangerous conditions for all road users.
I’m delighted that our Labour government took immediate action to fix the pothole epidemic and repair our crumbling roads when we entered government, including in Thanet. Since taking office, the Transport Secretary has announced £1.6 billion to fix potholes across England in 2025. That represents a 50% increase in funding compared to the last year under the Tories, meaning we’ll be able to repair an additional seven million potholes in just one year, with plans to double the national potholes budget by the end of this parliament.
In Kent, that’s a whopping increase in funding for road maintenance of nearly 37%, or £14.3 million in just one year. That’s a massive downpayment on restoring our streets back to the state they were in when Labour was last in government.
As you know, the roads and highways are managed by Kent County Council. Now that Kent County Council has been given that money by the government, there can be no more excuses for the shocking state of Thanet’s roads. The funding contains an incentive structure to spur councils into action – if Kent can show they are spending the money well and getting our roads fixed, more money will be made available. What I don’t want to find in a year’s time that the council have squandered this opportunity, failed to act to fix our roads, and the money that has been made available has gone unspent – so this is something that I will be keeping a close eye on over the coming months.
I am encouraging residents to report any pot holes via the KCC website – https://www.kent.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/what-we-look-after/roads/potholes