Vol. 407 No. 3
190 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment the total financial requirement for the maintenance of main and county roads in each local authority area as set out in submissions from the respective local authorities to his Department; whether the local authorities concerned have received block grants in line with this requirement; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Information in the form requested is not available in my Department. In 1987, county councils were asked by my Department to forward detailed information on trends in expenditure on road maintenance/improvement in the preceding years, on accumulated deficiencies in the network, on the appropriate annual ongoing costs and on the forecast expenditure on strengthening of county roads. This information was sought as part of a review of long term road development needs. The required level of expenditure identified over the 20 year evaluation period for improvements to regional and county roads and the preservation of the existing network of such roads was estimated at £4,067 million at 1988 prices.
Block grants are allocated to local authorities for expenditure on regional and county roads to supplement expenditure from their own resources on such roads. Details of payments to each local authority in each of the years from 1980 to 1990 are set out in the reply to Question No. 173 of 12 February 1991. In the three years 1989-1991, £182.4 million has been notified to county councils in discretionary grants for regional and county roads compared with £89.8 million in the previous three years.
