Guest Column: Pleased to see fixing the roads being made a major priority

This isn’t unique to Mansfield or Nottinghamshire, though sometimes it can seem like this county’s are worse than most.

For that reason I’m delighted that the Conservative-led county council is making this such a big priority.

This week I met with the portfolio holder in charge of the county’s roads to raise some issues and find out what is happening locally.

I was pleased to hear that as well as having almost doubled the roads maintenance budget for this financial year, the council has also had another £2 million tipped in to the pot from Government too.

In the first three months of this year the county council has filled more potholes than it managed in nine months of 2017.

So it’s clear that this is a major priority and the council is cracking on with the work.

It will take time, of course, but this is a good start.

I also particularly raised the issue of the A60 junction at Sainsbury’s and am delighted that there is now a proper process taking place to identify the best option to fix the congestion, which could include a second exit or major changes to the existing one.

It needs doing and it’s good to see that County Hall is making this a priority.

I’ve already brought the Secretary of State for Transport up to Mansfield to look directly at this issue.

And I’ll be continuing to push the Government to get the funds the council needs to carry out the plan, once a decision is made locally.

n Ben Bradley holds a surgery at his constituency office in Mansfield town centre once a month on a Saturday morning from 10am.

There is also a monthly surgery at Warsop Town Hall, also on a Saturday morning, again from 10am.

For details of when the next surgeries are for both venues, contact 
Ben Bradley’s constitu-
ency office on 01623 372016.