News

HGV drivers should be banned from using standard car sat navs that are leading them to crash into bridges or get stuck down narrow local roads that specialist lorry satnavs avoid, councils urge today.

Cllr David Renard, Transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, comments on the Government’s announcement of an additional £130 million of funding for bus operators to act as an extension of emergency support since the pandemic.

"The recent funding announcements came as a disappointment for many councils, with more than half of the areas that applied for more support receiving no funding and over a third of the country’s population missing out."

“Councils are determined to tackle climate change and are already supporting the transition to electric vehicles. It is good that the Queen’s Speech outlines ambitions to speed up this transition but councils need clarity about their role in delivering this change."

“Councils are best-placed to ensure chargepoints are delivered in the right places and avoiding inappropriate or poor siting. All councils need to benefit and have full flexibility to maximise the impact of the funding."

“Government funding has helped keep buses on the road, allowing operators to close the gap between the costs of providing local public transport and the reduced revenues from much lower numbers of passengers than normal"

“A renewed emphasis on supporting improving public transport as part of the Levelling Up White Paper is important and councils will be seeking more clarity on what this will mean in practice and how this will be funded so they can plan for the future."

Over 9.5 million potholes could be repaired or prevented by councils with the funding lost from local road maintenance budgets this year – the equivalent of 64,000 repairs in every local council area.

The Government’s £2.5 billion Pothole Repair Fund - announced in the Budget - will help councils to do more to maintain our roads this year and will go a long way to help tackling our local road repairs backlog.

"We are pleased the Government is investing in improving local bus services, and it is good this strategy recognises the important role of councils".