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£13.1 MILLION
FUNDING BOOST FOR DAMAGED ROADS
COUNCILS in the North West
of England have received more than £13.1 million of government
funding to help repair local roads damaged by severe weather, the
Transport Secretary has recently confirmed.
The funding is an exceptional payment from £183.5 million of extra
funding the government has made available to help with much needed
road repairs following the wettest winter on record. This is enough
to repair an extra 3.3 million potholes.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:- "Damage to roads
causes misery for drivers and local communities and the severe
weather over the last few months has made the problem worse.
This extra money will help make a real difference to the millions of
road users and residents across the north west who rely on local
roads, giving them safer and smoother journeys."
The councils receiving funding are:-
► Blackburn with Darwen £171,935
► Blackpool £142,518
► Bolton £309,888
► Bury £192,770
► Cheshire East £1,249,785
► Cheshire West and Chester £856,911
► Cumbria £3,018,761
► Halton £230,978
► Knowsley £202,454
► Lancashire £2,279,110
► Liverpool £465,035
► Manchester £419,421
► Oldham £811,773
► Rochdale £238,301
► Salford £259,010
► Sefton £300,119
► St. Helens £252,281
► Stockport £286,735
► Tameside £220,026
► Trafford £234,953
► Warrington £313,559
► Wigan £358,930
► Wirral £364,447
Councils have a responsibility to maintain their roads properly, but
the exceptional weather has caused significant additional damage,
increasing the amount of damage to the local road network. As the
flood waters have receded and councils have been able to assess the
impact, it is clear that these have been particularly severe in
certain areas.
This additional money has been allocated on a formula basis, and is
being distributed now to ensure that they can make use of it as soon
as possible and complete works before the summer holidays.
The government fund includes £80 million made available especially
for flood-hit areas to help repair the roads that received the worst
damage during the severe weather.
It also includes another £103.5 million made available to all
councils in England. This in addition to almost £900 million already
made available for road maintenance this year, bringing total
government investment allocated to road maintenance to more than £1
billion in 2013 to 2014.
116 local highway authorities in England, and a one-off payment to
Transport for London to distribute to London Boroughs, will receive
a share of the funding.
To promote greater transparency and accountability, all local
highway authorities will be required to publish information on their
website by end August 2014 showing where the money has been spent.
Building on the funding allocated today, yesterday's Budget included
a further £168 million to tackle potholes on England's roads. |
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Bereaved
families funding u-turn slammed
LANCASHIRE'S Police and
Crime Commissioner has added his voice to growing calls for a
Government u-turn on cuts to funding for bereaved families.
It's been revealed relatives of murder or manslaughter victims will
only receive support from Central Government if the crime occurred
after April 2010; meaning support for all other vulnerable families
will cease this October.
The issue was debated when the Police and Crime Commissioners came
together for their general meeting on Tuesday, and Clive Grunshaw
wants the Government to reconsider its decision for the sake of
vulnerable families in Lancashire.
Mr Grunshaw said:- "I cannot even begin to understand the pain
and anguish experienced by the families of murder and manslaughter
victims.
They are extremely vulnerable; and help and support for them is not
something which can be time-limited. It is necessary to help them
rebuild and move on with their lives.
The impact this decision will have on bereaved families is being
highlighted by national charity Mothers Against Murder and
Aggression (MAMAA UK), and I urge the Government to listen to their
pleas and reconsider this decision.
I also call on our local MPs to consider the impact this decision
may have on vulnerable families who have been the victim of extreme
tragedy in their constituencies, and lobby ministers for a change."
Police and Crime Commissioners will be responsible for commissioning
victims' services at a local level from October, but the government
had previously said funding for all bereaved families would remain
central.
Currently, the government provides a total budget of just £250,000
to a group of small and medium size organisations, who then provide
a fully-inclusive support service to victims, irrespective of where
they live.
MAMAA UK has now joined forces with some of these organisations to
form the Homocide Action Group, and together they are encouraging
MPs and Police and Crime Commissioners to support their calls for
the Government to continue with current funding arrangements.
Read the open letter from the Homocide Action Group to
PCC.
Peace talks
close to collapse
TALKS aimed at achieving a
2 state solution to end the occupation of Palestine land by Israel
could collapse within days, a North West MEP has warned.
Liberal Democrat Chris Davies is in Jerusalem leading an official
delegation from the European Parliament to assess the state of the
US-sponsored talks and the use of EU money.
After talks with negotiators he says that the refusal by Israel to
release more Palestinian prisoners by the end of the month is likely
to mark a complete breakdown in trust.
He claims that final status discussions have not even started and
that most Palestinians are wholly cynical of Israel's approach.
Davies said:- "The promise to release prisoners brought
Palestinians to the table despite the continued building of illegal
settlements by Israel, but they have achieved nothing of substance
and seem certain to fail.
The question is what happens next. Ordinary Palestinians cannot be
expected to continue to suffer daily humiliations, racism and. I am
sorry to say, killings at the hands of Israeli occupying forces.
Our eyes are now on Ukraine but we should always be conscious that
one of the best hopes for securing a more peaceful world is to end
the injustice experienced by Palestinians that inflames sentiments
across the globe."
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