Council slashes road repairs budget by more than £4m

EDINBURGH council chiefs are set to spend less of their annual budget repairing roads than any other Scottish local authority. New official figures show that spending on roads maintenance will decline by nearly a quarter - or £4.06 million - in Edinburgh this year compared to last.

Only 1.28 per cent of the city council's 1.05 billion revenue budget for 2010/11 is earmarked for roads and transport, which is lower than every other Scottish council area. Across Scotland, 3.8 per cent of all spending goes on the area.

The total 13.35m roads budget in Edinburgh for this year is also only a third of the amount set aside by Glasgow.

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The figures have been criticised by roads campaigners, who say more needs to be done to maintain the city's roads.

But the council said that it is spending more money on longer-term improvements, with money from another budget.

Neil Greig, spokesman for the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "It seems worrying that Edinburgh is so out of kilter with other authorities.

"Councils do not seem to treat roads as an asset, like they do buildings or hospitals. But they are assets and they need to spend money keeping that asset in good condition."

Spending on roads in Edinburgh went over-budget last year because of emergency repairs after severe weather.

Rural authorities often have to spend a higher proportion of their budgets on roads because their road network is much bigger. However, even when compared to other cities, the amount of the budget spent on roads by the city council is still lower. Glasgow spends 2.3 per cent of its budget on roads, while Aberdeen's ratio is 2.18 per cent.

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport leader, said: "Historically, there has been a big problem with the amount of money spent on roads in Edinburgh. Over 50 per cent of roads were in need of repair when we came into office in 2007 - that is now under a third.

"We are going in the right direction and there are now 60 per cent fewer compensation claims than two years ago.

"Could we do more? Of course we could. But within the budgets available, this is a success story."

The only areas of the council to get an increased budget are "other services", which includes interest and investments, and environmental services, which will see funding rise by 1.18 per cent.

Councillor Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the city council, said: "Frontline services should, and could, be protected as a priority over bureaucracy."