Some good news for Pleasley last week that the A617 at Pleasley Hill has been confirmed for resurfacing. I know it’s long overdue, but positive that it will now be done as part of a £33m local injection of funding into road improvements.
It must be one of the worst roads in the County and I've been desperate to get it done, so I’m glad we finally got there.
Other roads included in the programme include the A60 near West Notts College, Peafield Lane and Rainworth bypass on the A617, amongst others from my priority list.
You'll notice that this funding is focused on those major roads that are in urgent need of investment, made worse by the chaotic weather we’ve had over recent months too.
However, the fact is I know that £33m is a drop in the ocean compared to what we need for our roads, and that there are countless more that need doing. I know that this funding will still not fix everything nor please everyone, but I have been working to do something about that.
I've actually secured a £1.5 billion new fund for transport, this means we could invest heavily into road resurfacing.
It means we could resurface many more of our worst roads, and I mean resurfacing, with high quality long term work, instead of just running about doing the quick fixes local highways teams are legally obligated to do.
I've been working to secure the money we need to change this for over a year now, so we can finally get a solution to this problem. Now it’s confirmed. That’s good news.
You may have seen me talking about this before, but this is the important bit… In order for us to have this money and to invest in the scale necessary to fix our roads, we need to choose someone to be in charge of that money.
And next month, on May 2nd, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire will do just that by choosing a regional Mayor who will be responsible for how its spent.
Road resurfacing has always been one of my key priorities, alongside improving public transport, and bringing in more investment to help regenerate towns like ours, and create new opportunities to regenerate our high street and for local people to have good jobs.
The new Mayor and this new funding is a chance to tackle some of Mansfield’s most pressing issues, with new powers passed to us from Whitehall to help us sort these things out. Truthfully, whether you agree with us having a regional mayor or not, this is the only way we can access this historic funding from Government to do things like sort the roads out.
I know we’ve got plenty of issues to tackle, but I’ve got a record of delivering for our town, and I’ve sought solutions here in the form of new funding and powers to do more.
Next month it’s up to you to make a choice, and I'd really appreciate your help to get these things delivered for Mansfield.
