Lucy Frazer, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, addresses local highways issues.

It doesn't matter where I go to meet my constituents, one issue crops up everywhere: the state of the roads. 

Residents from across my constituency have remarked at open meetings with me that widespread highways issues are causing disruption to their journeys and, sometimes, damage to their vehicles. 

I have received high volumes of emails about it too. Just last year, I helped resolve highways issues in more than 40 locations across South East Cambridgeshire after residents reported issues outstanding.  

I recognise that this is a serious problem, and it cannot continue. 

I recently called a meeting with the director of Highways and Transport at Cambridgeshire County Council to raise my constituents’ concerns about highways issues – including perceived inaction, a lack of strategy and botched repairs.

The Government has provided a £2.3 million uplift to the council’s road maintenance budget this year, taking the total package to £21.2 million, and it is the council’s responsibility to use this to deliver the best possible value for local residents.  

The Government has also pledged to increase the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough highways maintenance budget by £91 million over the next decade, providing long-term budgetary certainty to our local authority.

Nationally, the uplift is set to £8.3 billion, which will be enough to resurface 5,000 miles of road.

During the meeting, I was pleased to receive a commitment by county officials to repair the highways drainage system in Haddenham, Aldreth, Wilburton, Stretham and Little Thetford to avert the deterioration of surface quality by flooding.

This will be completed using at least some of the new funding for Cambridgeshire in 2024-25.

I look forward to meeting the council again in due course to follow-up on our discussion and to receive more information about where officials are directing funds.   

In the meantime, I will continue to offer my assistance to the highways team and my constituents on highways matters. You can write to me via: lucy.frazer.mp@parliament.uk.