Fixing potholes is an essential part of Covid recovery councillor says
Tourists who have their tyres “shredded by potholes” won’t come back to Powys a councillor has said.
At Powys County Council’s cabinet meeting, councillors rubber-stamped the £2 million Covid Recovery Fund with at least £340,000 for potholes.
The fund includes £1.8m from the Welsh Government to help pay the cost of dealing with coronavirus.
An extra £200,000 from the council’s existing Community Grant Fund.
Money will run over two years and has been split with £400,000 anyear to go to the community and £600,000 to council services, with a minimum of £340,000 to a Highways Recovery Fund to fix potholes.
As part of the fund £100,000 has been earmarked for groups that run public conveniences in Powys.
Councillors who probed the proposals had questioned the link between fixing potholes and Covid recovery.
Portfolio holder for Adult Social Care, Welsh and Communications, Councillor Myfanwy Alexander said: “As a representative of a ward where tourism is a very important part of the economy, this funding is extremely welcome.
"If you go to stay somewhere and you have your tyres shredded in a pothole, you will not come back to that place again.”
She said that many businesses had turned to tourism to keep their heads above water.
"If people have invested their own capital, creating fantastic places for people to stay and if the people cannot reach those places to stay then we should have warned those people during the planning process.”
“We have a road network that we need to spend more on, and I really welcome this extra investment.”
