County Highways Cost Chaos

7.23.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 28th Oct 2006

Tories turn £3m saving on highways budget into £17.7m loss to the Taxpayer.

Escalating Highways service costs have once again raised serious questions about the state of the Roads in Maidstone, and in particular, maintenance and repairs. In 2005, the Tory controlled Kent County Council, against strong objections from many District Councils, including Maidstone, cancelled the joint arrangements and centralized control using the excuse that a saving of £3m would be achieved.

Since then, maintenance budgets have been cut and Kent County Council have revealed that the cost of the reorganisation to the taxpayer could be as high as £17.7m.

Councillor Dan Daley questions escalating costs of highways service

At the recent Highways Advisory Board, Maidstone Liberal Democrat County Councillor Dan Daley said, "the figures are getting more than bizarre. When the County decided to take back the highways function from the Districts, we were told one of the objectives was to save money. We have since need told that the cost would be £5m, then £7m, then £10m and now it's £17.7m. I wonder where it will end".