More cash for highway repairs and potholes agreed by Devon’s Cabinet

There could be a big cash boost for repairing Devon’s roads and fixing potholes after county councillors backed new budget proposals

Devon County Councils Cabinet is proposing to add an extra £4 million to the highways budget for 2025/26.

In addition, £5 million could be added for services for vulnerable children and there could also be more money than planned to combat homelessness across Devon.

The full council meets next week to set the final budget.

Councillors agreed their target budget for the new financial year at the beginning of January.

But the Cabinet heard that there would be greater flexibility on spending because of new revenue from the additional council tax on second homes.

Cabinet member for finance, Phil Twiss, said:

“Our postbags regularly include complaints from residents about potholes on our roads.

“It is important that when there is some extra money available to do more to tackle the problem it should go to that. I am delighted that the budget now includes an additional £4 million to highways to help address this issue.”

He said the county’s leaders had held formal consultation meetings with business, the trade unions and the voluntary sector and had listened to Devon’s scrutiny committees and district council colleagues.

“We recognise the work that district councils, charities and other organisations do to make life a little easier for some of the homeless people in Devon and I am delighted that an extra £500,000 has been allocated for the homelessness budget, taking the budget to £1 million,” he said.

“There will also be £5 million for our children’s services.”

Some of this money will support Devon’s ambition for vulnerable children to be cared for closer to their families and communities through a range of services.

Mr Twiss continued:

“The backdrop to this budget is the focus on Devon County Council being a strong and sustainable council with better outcomes at lower cost while living within our means against a backdrop of rising demand and pressure on the services we provide.

“That means a continued focus on the young, the old and the vulnerable.

“Local government nationally is not in a very good place at all, with surges in demand across all services and insufficient financial resources to support the work it does for residents.

“Given these highly challenging circumstances, this is a realistic and good budget for the people of Devon.”

The full council meets next Thursday (20 February) to finalise the budget for 2025/26.

It includes above inflation increases in spending on Devon’s vulnerable adults and children with an 8.2 percent rise in adult services and a 5.5 percent increase in the revenue budget for children’s services.

Reductions in other departmental spending and increased income will mean an overall rise of 5.9 percent in the budget with a total spend of over £784.1 million.