When looking to make a major national announcement about road repair money in the last two weeks Patrick McLoughlin MP, the Transport Secretary, chose to come to Northampton North.
The announcement just before Christmas tied in to my own campaign asking for more money being allocated to remove potholes and improve roads.
It was no coincidence that the place chosen where I met the Cabinet Minister was Queenswood Avenue, in the Boothville area of Northampton North. This is one of the streets where the road surface was being completely overhauled thanks to the fresh injection of new money I secured from Chancellor George Osborne in the Budget last March. Many streets in Northampton North have now been re-done thanks to the £3.32 million I secured for our area. Even now there are still a few more streets where work is scheduled thanks to this money, these will be in Kingsthorpe in February.
I took the Transport Secretary to see the progress being made and to meet the workmen on the ground as well as senior managers from the Highways Department at the County Council who have also been working on this. I was pleased to see that many of the workmen re-doing the street surface are themselves from Northampton and the surrounding area- according to local residents who have contacted me they have been doing a really good job!
The Government has allocated £69 million to Northamptonshire over the next six years to undertake more road repairs. Potholes and road damage are not only an annoyance to drivers and cyclists everywhere but are dangerous and can cause accidents. Fixing them makes our streets safer, driving easier and will be good for our local economy.
I am continuing to push for more funding for even more roads across our town to be completely redone and will continue to do so.