Council proposes £4 million boost to tackle potholes

Devon County Council has announced a potential cash boost for repairing the county’s roads and fixing potholes, following councillors' approval of new budget proposals on February 14.

The ruling Cabinet is proposing an additional £4 million for the highways budget in 2025/26. Along with this, £5 million could be allocated to services for vulnerable children, and there may be more funds to combat homelessness across the county.

The full council is set to meet next week to finalise the budget.

Councillors agreed on their target budget for the new financial year at the start of January. However, the Cabinet has since been informed of increased flexibility in spending, thanks to new revenue from the additional council tax on second homes.

Phil Twiss, Cabinet member for finance, said: “Our postbags regularly include complaints from residents about potholes on our roads. It is important that when there is some extra money available to do more to tackle the problem it should go to that. I am delighted that the budget now includes an additional £4 million to highways to help address this issue.”

He added that formal consultation meetings with business leaders, trade unions, and voluntary sectors, as well as feedback from Devon's scrutiny committees and district council colleagues, had informed these proposals.

“We recognise the work that district councils, charities and other organisations do to make life a little easier for some of the homeless people in Devon and I am delighted that an extra £500,000 has been allocated for the homelessness budget, taking the budget to £1 million,” he said.

“There will also be £5 million for our children’s services.”

The extra funding will help Devon’s efforts to ensure vulnerable children can be cared for closer to their families and communities through a variety of services.

Mr Twiss continued: “The backdrop to this budget is Devon County Council being a strong and sustainable council with better outcomes at lower cost while living within our means against a backdrop of rising demand and pressure on the services we provide. That means a continued focus on the young, the old and the vulnerable.”

He noted that local government is facing significant challenges, with surging demand for services and insufficient financial resources to support residents.

“Given these highly challenging circumstances, this is a realistic and good budget for the people of Devon,” he concluded.

The full council will meet on Thursday, February 20, to finalise the budget for 2025/26.

It includes above-inflation increases in spending on vulnerable adults and children, with an 8.2 percent rise in adult services and a 5.5 percent increase in the revenue budget for children’s services.

Reductions in other departmental spending and increased income will result in an overall rise of 5.9 percent, bringing the total budget to over £784.1 million.