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Council defend D&G roads following damning report

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Roads in Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders have been slammed in a new report by the country's spending watchdog.

Figures from Audit Scotland's 'Maintaining Scotland's Roads' put both Dumfries and Galloway Council and Scottish Borders Council at the bottom of maintenance league tables.

They show that in 2014/15, the percentage of roads in an 'acceptable' condition in Dumfries and Galloway was lower than 50 percent, and was the second worst in the entire country.

Dumfries and Galloway responded to the report, saying the percentage of roads requiring repair has reduced since 2014:

Audit Scotland’s report is based on data from 2 years ago. Despite the Government’s punitive funding cuts, forcing us to make savings of £68.47m since 2011, Dumfries and Galloway Council has continued to develop road maintenance works to improve the condition of Scotland’s third largest road network (4,165km).

Our change to first time permanent repairs has seen a significant improvement in the red category, from 14.9% to 11.87%. Also, since 2014, we have emphasised surfacing treatments, such as dressing, over strengthening works. These options are more cost effective and better suited to low traffic volumes on our rural network.

The most recent survey data (July 2016) shows that, since 2014, our overall road condition has improved, with the percentage of roads requiring treatment reduced from 49.3% to 46.5%."

– Statement from Dumfries and Galloway Council
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South of Scotland roads slammed in new report

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