Are East Ren roads still going to pot?

Jackson Carlaw MSP has released figures obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request which he says show East Renfrewshire Council failing to utilise its government budget for road repairs .

Council spending on road repairs has gone up from £163 million in 2007/08 to £220 million in 2013/14 across Scotland.

But in East Renfrewshire, the Conservative deputy leader’s figures show an underspend of £401,000 for the last year.

He said: “It is time for an end to this slap-dash approach. Thousands upon thousands of road users are understandably angry and fed up with the state of roads.”

A council spokesman refuted the claim, commenting that the figures shown by the MSP “relate to overall road budget including things like gulley cleaning, grass cutting, bridge repairs, traffic signals, winter maintenance, lighting etc.

“The actual budget and expenditure figures for 2013/14 for pothole repairs were budget: £590,000 and spent: £606,000. For resurfacing/patching it was budget: £1,546,300 and spent: £1,686,000. The footway resurfacing budget was £503,000, and we spent £529,000.”

He added: “The road condition indicator has shown an overall improvement since 2011 and this is expected to improve again this year. This reflects the £4.65m increase in roads funding since that time. The vast majority of this additional money was used to resurface roads.”

Still, Extra readers have voiced complaints — Twitter follower Leigh Small commented: “Our street, Orchy Gardens, is atrocious — it’s one huge pothole! We’ve been complaining about it for six years now.”