The cost of dealing with the worst weather in the history of Angus Council looks like being more than twice the £2 million set aside by the local authority for keeping the area’s roads open during the winter months.
Latest figures have revealed that the local authority has already recorded a gross overspend of over £1.96m in coping with the harshest conditions for decades.
And with both winter and the financial year yet to come to an end, council chief executive David Sawers has warned that it is “prudent” to allow for a further overspend risk of almost £300,000 meaning final total cost of tackling winter on Angus’ roads could be over £4.2m.
In a report going before the full meeting of Angus Council in Forfar today, Mr Sawers has set out the spiralling costs experienced by the authority’s roads department in the past few months.
“The extreme weather throughout the UK during late November and December of 2010 had a significant impact on public services across the country, with the biggest impacts being on roads and transportation services.
“Whilst the weather in January has not been as extreme as December, the weather has required regular action to treat roads.”
By as early as December 21 councillors were told the annual winter maintenance budget had already been exceeded by as much as £600,000.
However, the overall cost has now been offset by a number of factors, including an emergency Scottish Government grant.
Angus Council received a £464,000 share £64,000 greater than anticipated of £15m allocated to the country’s 32 local authorities to help with urgent maintenance action.
As a result of the extra cash and other contingencies, the net Angus overspend is now forecast at £740,000.
That figure, he adds, already includes £100,000 of additional emergency pothole repairs projected to be undertaken in the current year.
He added, “Greater instances of potholes are not likely to be the only impact on the roads network due to the severe weather and more significant infrastructure repairs will be necessary.
“The full impact and cost cannot be fully assessed until the end of the winter period.”
Mr Sawers will also tell elected members that the local authority umbrella body, Cosla, is lobbying Holyrood for additional funding to help councils shoulder the burden as they approach one of the most challenging financial periods in recent history.