Vol. 416 No. 6
318 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for the Environment if there is any analysis or examination carried out by his Department as to the comparative costs of road maintenance strengthening and improvement between local authorities, or any quality checks as to the state of roads throughout the country between different local authorities.
I take it that the question relates to national roads in respect of which full cost grants are provided by my Department. In the case of maintenance works on these roads, grants are allocated separately for surface dressing operations and for ordinary maintenance works such as delineation, signs, drainage, winter maintenance and road repairs. Details of unit costs for surface dressing operations are returned annually by local authorities so that any significant variations can be identified. However, simple comparisons as between local authorities cannot readily be made because of variations in the level of preparatory works which arise in individual cases. Comparative cost statistics are not sought in respect of ordinary maintenance works for which grants are allocated on a road mileage basis.
