Norfolk County Council will receive an additional £5.1 million from central government to spend on road and transport improvements in the 2017/18 financial year, it has been announced.
The money comes from the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, which was announced in the Autumn Statement, however the detail of how the fund will be allocated has only been announced in the last week.
This is new funding for local highway and other local transport improvements which is designed to support local economic growth and improve access to employment and housing. This could include schemes that reduce congestion at key locations and upgrading or improving the maintenance of local routes.
Jonathan Cage, President of Norfolk Chamber said: “The state of Norfolk’s road infrastructure impacts on all members of the Norfolk business community and we welcome any improvements that will help reduce journey times and congestion.”
Martin Wilby, Chairman of the Environment, Development and Transport Committee, said: “We know good transport networks are vital to business growth and job creation, as well as simply making everyday life easier for everyone. Reducing journey times and congestion on our road network and continuing to improve safety for all on our roads is a priority for this council, so this is additional funding is very welcome.”
Members of the council’s Environment, Development and Transport Committee will receive a verbal update about this additional new funding at a meeting next Friday (27 January) as part of an agenda item about the council’s proposed highways capital programme, which is spent on major works such as structural road repairs and major surfacing schemes. Next year’s highways capital programme is anticipated to stand at £38.83m, with the £5.1m from the National Productivity Investment fund being additional to this figure.
