Roads Funding £3 million Greater with the Lib Dems as Tories Display 'Astonishing Hypocrisy'

In a display of 'astonishing hypocrisy,' the Conservatives have criticised the Liberal Democrats on the issue of roads funding in spite of the fact that thanks to the Lib Dems an additional £3 million has been invested in road repairs and resurfacing since the demise of the Conservative County Council in April 2009.

Bedford Borough Council is investing around £6 million in road repairs and resurfacing this year, £1 million more than was spent by the Conservative-run County Council in the Borough in its final year, 2008/09. The Borough Council invested just under £7 million last year, a figure which included an additional £1 million boost proposed by the Liberal Democrats, and voted against by the Tories, to begin to tackle the appalling state of the roads inherited by the Borough Council after years of underinvestment.

Since April 2009, there has therefore been a total of an additional £3 million allocated to improve the Borough's roads over and above the Conservative County Council's spending level of £5 million per year.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Bedford Borough Council Environment Portfolio Holder Cllr Charles Royden said: "The Conservatives wanted far, far less money to be spent on the Borough's roads over the past year, having voted against the Liberal Democrats' £1 million boost to the roads budget. This year, we are investing around £1 million more than the Tories spent on roads in the last year of the County Council in 2008/09, bringing the total additional roads funding since April 2009 to around £3 million. It is therefore an astonishing display of hypocrisy by the Tories that they now claim to support investment in local roads and pavements.

"Last year the Liberal Democrats injected an extra £1 million boost into roads maintenance to kick-start the fight back against the dreadful backlog of repairs which the Conservative County Council had allowed to build up. Shamefully, the Conservatives voted against the proposal. It was only with the support of the late Frank Branston that the Lib Dem proposal for the extra £1 million was narrowly approved in the face of Tory opposition, and as a result many more roads and pavements have been resurfaced and made safer across Bedford Borough in the past year.'

"Everyone knows that the Conservatives allowed Bedford Borough's roads to deteriorate into third-world conditions over many years, despite the fact they charged local residents the second highest County Council tax in the Country. The fight back against their awful backlog of repairs continues, and road maintenance remains a top priority for the Council. That is why Mayor Dave Hodgson released £200,000 of emergency funding to tackle the crisis caused by the worst winter in 30 years, and why we continue to invest vastly more in the Borough's roads than the Conservative County Council ever did."