COUNCILLORS in Northumberland have welcomed the Conservative administration’s plans to increase expenditure on the county’s roads in the upcoming budget.

Draft budget proposals show the council intends to spend £30.45 million on its annual local transport plan in 2024/25. This includes £4.45 million added by the local authority to spend on minor C and U class roads across Northumberland.

Furthermore, there is an additional £5.77 million allocated for pothole repair. This has been partly funded by the county council and central Government. In comparison, the 2023/24 budget allocated £23.56 million for the local transport plan.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of the Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley Local Area Committee, deputy leader Cllr Richard Wearmouth said there was a “huge uplift” in terms of the “amount of cash being spent”.

He added: “We recognised we needed to do something more for our roads.”

Independent Group councillor Scott Lee said he welcomed the budget and that the LTP spend ‘seemed good’, while Conservative councillor Mark Swinburn said the additional spend was “great”. However, he also expressed frustration at the “criteria” for repairs around the depth of damage to roads and paths.

Cllr Wearmouth said: “Rules are there for a reason. If we’re going to go away in one area we have to in all areas.”

The meeting saw the fourth of five budget presentations to each of the local area committees, outlining the state of play for the budget ahead of an all-member scrutiny meeting on Monday (January 29).

There, members will take a deep dive into the draft budget.

The final budget will then go before full council on February 21, where it will need to be voted through by a majority of councillors in order to come into force for the 2024/25 financial year.

The final local area committee was briefed to North Northumberland at a meeting in Berwick on Thursday afternoon (January 25).