Edinburgh City Council is asking the public for more input on what roads are fixed with £3.6million to spend over three years.
Here's the full text of the release:
"THE public will have greater say in road and pavement improvements in their areas through new powers being proposed by the City of Edinburgh Council.
The city's Neighbourhood Partnerships (NPs) will help to decide what projects a total of £3.6million will be spent on in their neighbourhoods over the next three years.
With guidance from Council road managers, each group will be consulted about which work should be carried out in local areas.
Members of the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee will be asked to approve the Road and Footway Investment - Prioritisation of Works and Programme for 2008/11 on May 6th.
The report recommends that each of the 12 NPs should be asked to prioritise which projects they would like to spend their share of £100,000 a year on.
The money will come out of the £20m capital funding being invested in improvements to roads and pavements during each of the next three years. A total of £35m will be spent on road infrastructure, including investment in street lighting and funds set aside for emergencies.
A total of 119 pavements and 108 roads have already been identified from the capital budget for priority repairs in 2008/09, while provisional lists have been drawn up for 2009/10 and 2010/11.
With improvements planned in three-year chunks, proposals going to the TIE committee also include giving Neighbourhood Partnerships some influence over when certain prioritised schemes are delivered within the three year programme.
All roads and pavements are prioritised citywide following detailed road and pavement inspections and use of a scoring system based on aspects such as the condition of the surface, safety and levels of traffic or pedestrians.
Further proposals are set to direct more money into residential roads and pavements, which traditionally have not always had as much spent on them as busier main roads because of low traffic and pedestrian volumes.
In order to address this, the TIE committee will also be asked to approve a move to direct £2.5m from the capital budget straight to improving local roads and pavements.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, Deputy Transport Convener, said: "Including local groups in deciding some of the roads and pavements to be improved will really help us to target the areas which matter most to them. After all, they are well placed when it comes to identifying problems in their neighbourhoods because they probably walk past them every day.
"With pressure on the road network continuing to grow, we are continuing to invest heavily in road maintenance and repairs in a bid to ensure that the city's streets are able to cope and are of a good standard."
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