Vol. 460 No. 3
241 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for the Environment the total amount of extra funding envisaged in the Government's ten year restoration programme for non-national roads; the base year used for this calculation; the amount expended on non-national roads in the base year; and the amounts which will be provided in each of the remaining years. [19261/95]
When I initiated the restoration programme for non-national roads last July, I allocated an additional £20 million to fund the programme in 1995. The record provision of over £146 million made for improvement and maintenance works on non-national roads this year includes a further substantial provision for works connected with the restoration programme. I will be announcing details in a matter of weeks.
Detailed information on the extent of the backlog of deficiencies in the network, and on the cost of restoring it over a ten year period, is not available at this stage. To overcome this problem, I am commissioning a professional study on the condition of road pavements on regional and county roads and this should be completed by the end of the year. The overall funding requirements for the restoration programme will be determined at that stage.
