A ROW has broken out about road maintenance funding after analysis showed a “cut” of over £800,000 for Southampton.

Analysis from Southampton Labour group after the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced his budget, suggests that the city will be be £858,000 worse off with regards to road maintenance.

The group claim the cuts amount to a 17 percent reduction with a national cut of £375million.

This comes weeks after the chancellor urged people to “enjoy #NationalPotholeDay before they’re all gone”.

Councillor Steve Leggett, Cabinet Member for Green City and Place at Southampton City Council (SCC), said the reduction “sums this government up”.

“Once again, this Conservative government is short-changing Southampton. Potholes are the scourge of our roads. The chancellor promised they would all soon be gone – then cut the fund to get rid of them,” he said.

“How is it they can afford billions in crony contracts for their friends but when it comes to fixing the roads we rely on in Southampton, they tell us the cupboard is bare? This chaos is holding our area back and it has to stop.”

Last year the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that it would take 11 years and £11billion to get roads back into a reasonable state.

Royston Smith, Conservative MP for Southampton Itchen, hit back claiming that the council spent “over £5m” on cycle lanes “which no one cycles on” and that it used the Covid relief fund to put in cycle lanes and bus lanes “cutting routes in and out of the city”.

He added: “If they’re suggesting that £800,000 has been taken out, which I don’t recognise, then the millions that the government gave them for road works and improvements largely wasted by the Labour council, far dwarf any suggested cuts.

“If the potholes are bad in Southampton, why did they not fix them with that money? The answer is because they are obsessed with attacking the motorist and ensuring that Southampton is not open for business.”