NEWTON Abbot was specifically named by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in today’s spring budget when he announced extra funding to repair potholes.
Delivering his speech in the House of Commons, Mr Hunt announced an additional £200 million next year to tackle the problem.
And he said he had been lobbied by Devon MPs, including Newton Abbot’s Anne Marie Morris.
After announcing further funding to improve local transport infrastructure, Mr Hunt said he would be giving the extra cash for potholes on top of £500m a year already promised.
To cheers around the chamber, he went on to say: ‘Following a wet then cold winter, I have also received particularly strong representations from my honourable colleagues in North Devon and Newton Abbot about the curse or potholes.’
He added that a councillor in his own constituency had argued for additional funding.
The extra funding will be welcome news to motorists across Teignbridge and local councillors who have been campaigning for more to be done.
Just days ago, Cllr Mike Joyce highlighted the problems in Newton Abbot’s Torquay Road.
He has complained twice to the county council about the state of the road and said: ‘Some of the potholes are so big you almost feel like you could swim in them!’
Mr Hunt’s pledge means a 20 per cent boost to cash set aside annually to deal with potholes.
Data from the Department for Transport suggests that up to half of small residential roads and up to a quarter of B and C roads are in need of some level of resurfacing.
Meanwhile, more than 15 per cent of smaller unclassified roads are in a 'red' category condition, which is the worst rating available.
The extra cash will be given directly to local authorities, meaning it is more likely to be used on minor urban and rural routes.
It will add to the pot of £1.12 billion set to be spent annually in the period 2020-25 addressing the issue of crumbling roads.
There is currently a large backlog of potholes waiting to be fixed, while the cost of filling them has shot up by 16per cent to around £50 each.