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<p>The Department for Transport provides capital funding to local highway authorities,
including Essex County Council, from the local highways maintenance capital block
grant. Harlow falls within Essex County Council's area of responsibility and therefore
we do not allocate any funds directly to the Borough Council for road maintenance.</p><p>
</p><p>Since 2004 the Department has allocated the following amounts to Essex for
highway maintenance:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Year</strong></td><td><p><strong>£m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td>2004/05</td><td><p>12.626</p></td></tr><tr><td>2005/06</td><td><p>15.782</p></td></tr><tr><td>2006/07</td><td><p>16.682</p></td></tr><tr><td>2007/08</td><td><p>22.428</p></td></tr><tr><td>2008/09</td><td><p>20.706</p></td></tr><tr><td>2009/10</td><td><p>21.361</p></td></tr><tr><td>2010/11</td><td><p>20.959</p></td></tr><tr><td>2011/12</td><td><p>20.728</p></td></tr><tr><td>2012/13</td><td><p>19.838</p></td></tr><tr><td>2013/14</td><td><p>22.482*</p></td></tr><tr><td>2014/15</td><td><p>19.873*</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>* includes the top up announced in the 2012 Autumn Statement.</p><p>The Department
also allocated additional funding to authorities to help repair roads damaged by various
weather events and this included a further £2.116 million to Essex County Council
in 2010/11 and £5.301 million in March 2011. More recently the Department for Transport
has agreed to allocate over £2.7 million due to the severe wet weather the country
has encountered.</p><p> </p><p>A £200 million Pothole Fund was announced in the Budget
on 19 March 2014. From this, £168 million is being made available to councils in England
through a bidding exercise. Further details on the fund will be made available in
the coming weeks.</p><p><br>Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding
allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Revenue
Support Grant for maintaining their local highways. Neither capital nor revenue highways
maintenance funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide
upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services they provide.</p><p>The
Department for Transport does not centrally hold information on what proportion of
this funding is spent by Essex County Council on repairing potholes.</p><p> </p>
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