IT will now cost more than £253 million to fix all the potholes and issues on Dumfries and Galloway’s crumbling roads.
That’s the estimated pricetag of the current repair backlog locally – and it’s grown from £217,000,000 in 2022.
The shock figures were obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the council by Scottish Labour.
And the eye-watering sum is the second highest in the whole of Scotland, with Dumfries and Galloway only behind East Dunbartonshire, which is facing a £598,454,000 problem of their own.
Meanwhile, the overall repairs bill for all of Scotland’s roads comes in at £2.5 billion, although that’s thought to be an underestimate as four of the country’s local authorities failed to submit data.
On the back of the stats, Scottish Labour has accused the SNP of letting Scotland’s roads crumble and making brutal cuts to council budgets.
Commenting on the situation in this region, South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: “These astonishing figures lay bare the dire state of disrepair on our local roads after years of brutal neglect under the SNP.
“They have cut local government funding to the bone, leaving roads across the region to crumble and taxpayers to pick up the bill.
“For example, in Dumfries and Galloway, the region has the third largest road network in Scotland but one of the smallest grants from central government to maintain those roads.
“Our pothole-ridden roads are a daily reminder of how badly the Scottish Government have let down communities and failed to properly fund councils.
“The Scottish Government must stop burying their heads in the sand about this and show some leadership dealing with the mess they created.”
