ESSEX County Council says filling potholes is not a priority while the cost of living crisis is hitting the authority reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

It comes after a motion from the Labour group that highlighted the financial situation highways is in. Budgets for maintenance and trimming of verges on roads across Essex is set to be scrapped.

It means funding responsibility for the work carried out by Essex Highways Rangers is being passed to districts and boroughs, even though those authorities have admitted facing tough financial conditions themselves.

The decision from Essex County Council to halt funding of the Highways Rangers – who carry out cleaning and minor repairs on road signs and bollards, trim vegetation to improve the visibility of signs and ad hoc grass cutting and strimming of highway verges – comes after it admitted it was running a policy of “managed decline” on its roads.

Even at current levels Essex Highways are investing less than half the annual amount required just to ‘stay still’, exacerbated even more by inflationary pressures.

The value of annual deterioration, is modelled at £77.7m per year across Essex. This is compared to Essex County Council’s investment of £36.675m per year to fix those wear and tear issues such as potholes.

Councillor Jaymey McIvor (Cons, Ongar & Rural) said at Full Council: “The people of Essex send us here to make sure that the priorities of the people of Essex are dealt with. And right now the priorities are not potholes it’s dealing with the cost of living.”

Councillor Lewis Barber (Cons, Constable) said: “There are certainly challenges and certainly we need to need to look at how we manage our budget but we are being innovative to try and come up with solutions.”

Councillor Holly Whitbread (Cons, Epping and Theydon Bois) said during cost of living problems funding that affects people’s health and wellbeing “must come first”.

She said: “The Labour group are living in a parallel universe with this motion.

“Whilst we all acknowledge the vital function the county council has in keeping Essex roads moving, and as Councillor Barber outlined the different challenges that we face at this difficult time, this out of touch motion just fails to acknowledge or just ignores the wider economic challenges being faced by this council and indeed the nation. This motion is purely about political point scoring.”

She added: “At this difficult time we must level with people and the people across Essex that we have difficult decisions to make and in these difficult decisions people must always come first.”

Councillor Aidan McGurran said: “If ever there was any doubt about how out of touch some Conservative councillors are I think they’ve provided proof of it today.

“I don’t know which residents you’re talking to but if the state of our roads and potholes doesn’t come up I would be absolutely staggered.”

He added: “I thank the member for being honest about the fact that there are challenges facing our highways provision. However I would say it’s far more than challenges. It really is coming to something when the council’s own highways department describes what’s going on with the state of our roads as managed decline.”

The motion had called for the council to declare a “highways emergency”, that the leader of the council writes to the Secretary of State for Transport requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the current financial black hole regarding highways, and that the leader of the council writes to the new Chancellor opposing further cuts to local councils.

The motion failed.