There has been a lot of interest in the media and also with residents about roads and their condition in Crawley. There have been accusations that Crawley has been treated unfairly by the County Council and that they have spent less on our roads than would be expected for our size of road network. It appears that there is a view that if you repeat incorrect allegations enough times these will be taken as being factual but this is not the case and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight and show that we are being treated fairly by our County Council.
The figures below show that Crawley is in fact treated fairly and actually receives more funding that might be expected based just on the size of our road network. Additionally there is good news in that the projected spend in the next two years continues to give Crawley a fair share of the investment in our roads.
The figures that have been quoted were for spending in Crawley compared with what was spent on roads in Chichester District which is almost four times bigger in road network size than Crawley Borough.
The actual road network for Crawley Borough is 311 kms and for Chichester District is 1123 kms. Crawley has 7.7% of the West Sussex County total roads and Chichester District 27.9% of the total.
Potholes filled in 2013 /14 numbered 5,719 in Crawley and 14,691 in Chichester District, with costs of £216,665 and £ 522,498 respectively showing that we had a higher proportion of potholes filled than would be expected on our road network size. The amount spent per kilometre was £696 for Crawley and £465 for Chichester District showing that Crawley had more spent on pothole repairs in terms of its network size of its roads than in Chichester District
The proposed 2014/15 projected capital investment in our roads also includes the recently launched Better Roads Programme by the County Council and Crawley will have an additional £2 million invested in the roads bringing the total to more than £5.7 million for Crawley in the next two years.
The Better Roads Programme is intended to improve the condition of our roads and reduce future expenditure on pothole repairs. This programme will allow a more proactive approach to road maintenance and has a philosophy of Invest to Save for future road maintenance which I think will put Crawley and West Sussex in a better position in the future.
Councillor Bob Lanzer
Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development, Crawley Borough Council