Kirklees roads will close and others be left to deteriorate as government budget cuts bite

Roads will have to close and conditions will deteriorate as councillors wrestle with government budget cuts.

Kirklees Council is preparing for a £1.2m loss of grant from the Department for Transport.

And a meeting heard there is a repairs backlog already costing an estimated £75m.

Clr Steve Hall, Cabinet member for Highways, warned the cuts will keep coming to Kirklees.

As part of government funding rules, Kirklees can get an ‘incentive’ to claw back the cut – but it has to bid for it and one of the council’s two previous bids was rejected.

Clr Hall said: “It’s not good news for this year, next year or the four years after that.

“Some roads will have to close and the condition of the roads will keep deteriorating.

“We can bid for extra money but in West Yorkshire us and Bradford were the only successful application for bids last time – if the bids are unsuccessful that is time and hours put in wasted.

“The one bid we got was with Bradford for structures, it will go on retaining walls and bridge strengthening – clearly it’s not enough for the new bridge in the Valleys – Slaithwaite and Milnsbridge – that has been called for.”

The highways budget is not just for roads, it also funds pavements, street lights, bridges, retaining walls and cycleways.

Kirklees’ grant is set to drop to £5.6m in 2016/17 and £5.4m in 2017/18, but thereafter it is predicted to fall below £5m for the first time.

The authority puts £2.4m capital into highways – but it needs a further £9m a year.

And the money Kirklees receives is nowhere near what it needs overall – there is a £75m cost of backlog repairs in the borough which would take 10 years to clear.

The council admits it is only able to “manage deterioration” rather than improve the highways and it accepts it will lead to more complaints.

Council leader, Clr David Sheard, was critical that no other councillors attended Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting where the matter was discussed as one change means the priority list for unclassified road works will lead to less local choice, something Clr Sheard said was regrettable.