Milton Keynes roads are in 'worryingly poor' state of repair, say Tory councillors

Local Conservatives have condemned the council’s Progressive Alliance for their failure to upkeep roads in Milton Keynes

Since 2020, reported road defects, which includes potholes, have doubled, they say.

And they claim this is despite the Conservative government giving Milton Keynes City Council millions of pounds to tackle the poor state of the city’s roads.

In 2021-22, MKCC received an extra £7.9 million for local roads maintenance, including £2.8 million for potholes alone and this year, the government announced an extra £25 million over the next decade would be invested to improve the local roads in Milton Keynes.

“Despite this extensive funding, the Labour-led Council have failed to sufficiently address the ever- increasing potholes and road defects, with local councillors reporting the poor state of the roads as a top concern amongst residents,” said Cllr Liam Andrews, Shadow Cabinet member for Public Realm

The local Conservative group has campaigned repeatedly for the Labour-led administration to rethink their inefficient, reactive strategy and take a long term, practical approach to rectifying road disrepair such as potholes.

This year, they put forward a budget amendment that asked that an all- encompassing evaluation of outstanding road maintenance was carried out and the results used to establish a proactive, realistic forward plan of investment in Milton Keynes’ roads for years to come.

"However, the Progressive Alliance rejected this common-sense proposal and roads throughout Milton Keynes remain in an unacceptable state,” said Cllr Andrews.

He said: “The state of the roads in Milton Keynes is one of the most regular complaints I get from residents and Parish Councils so it’s frustrating that Labour and the Lib Dems refused to listen to us earlier this year to put a strategy in place for maintaining roads.

“Unfortunately, we shouldn’t be surprised, time and time again we’re seeing that Labour just don’t care about motorists in Milton Keynes. Parking charges up, the A509 closed for over a year and potholes everywhere, it’s only local Conservatives who are on the side of motorists.”

Cllr David Hopkins, Leader of Conservative group, said: ‘We have roads in a worryingly poor state of repair across whole city area as is exemplified by the number of council questions from councillors and councillor casework passed to us all by members of the public. Residents regularly report that all too often when repairs are executed, they are swiftly followed by more repairs on the same stretch of the road, whilst other nearby sections of the same road are left untouched.

“MK has reached the stage in its growth where we need now a strategic plan for the ongoing renewal, repair and re-evaluation of our road transport system, making it fit for purpose for a city looking to attract business and people looking to invest in a location that gives them ‘the edge”.

Last summer MK City Council announced that around 50 potholes a day were being filled and repaired on crumbling city roads as part of a multi million pound improvement programme.

But some people questioned whether the repair method – using Spray Injection Patching machines – was good enough, as some potholes were reappearing again after being filled.