Up to 47 roads and 54 pavements will be resurfaced in 2022/23 as part of the council’s continued six-year, £60m investment in making roads and pavements safer for residents and visitors.
Last year, the council announced unprecedented investment into the City’s roads and pavements to improve local neighbourhoods for residents, and to make the place more accessible for all. The agreed £10m investment for 2021/22 saw 46 roads and 45 pavements resurfaced across the City, and the new £10m 2022/23 programme has been confirmed and agreed.
In addition to the roads and pavements being resurfaced last year, 10 zebra crossings also received revamps to make the designated crossing zones safer for pedestrians and road users.
Cllr Ron Woodley, cabinet member for transport, asset management and inward investment, said: “For many years, our former town’s roads and pavements deteriorated due to under-investment from the council, and residents rightly made their frustrations clear to us. We have listened to these concerns, and I am delighted to announce the proposed resurfacing programme for 2022/23, which will help us build on the excellent work carried out last year.
“Improving the road and pavement infrastructure for the whole of Southend-on-Sea is very much a long-term ambition, and not something that will be achieved in one or two years, which is why as part of the budget, we have extended the £10m investment per year by an extra year, taking the total level of investment to £60m in six years.
“By improving our neighbourhoods, we make our new City a more enticing place for people to live, work, play and do business, so it is important we don’t stand still. Last year we were working with a highways budget we hadn’t ever seen before, which means we can now take that learning and provide a more detailed programme of works, which will focus on other street improvements such as replacing signs and replacing kerbs.
"We are still in the early stages of this incredible investment, and I hope our residents and businesses will slowly start to see roads and pavements they can be proud of.”
A full list of the 2022/23 resurfacing programme can be found here: www.southend.gov.uk/resurfacing