The council may receive £8.5 million from the North East Combined Authority, building on a previous £21 million allocation for road maintenance.
Jan Willis spoke at a council meeting on February 3rd, mentioning that the NECA funding amount is not definite.
Anne Dale, an Independent councillor, emphasized that the council needs more money to fix roads. The county has over 3,000 miles of roads and public rights of way.
Councillor Dale said they are getting more pothole money but feels provision for highways is inadequate given existing highway problems. People expect funding to increase, so she wants to ask MPs for more highway money.
Richard Wearmouth, the council’s Conservative deputy leader, stated that they have a funding settlement, although they don’t know the final amount yet as it is currently with the combined authority.
Ms. Willis noted that allocations seem complicated, but she hopes they will know soon. She thinks their share will be around £8.5 million, which would beat recent years.
