Ian Lake's speech to Council on 23rd March

So far our staff have repaired 20,000 road defects, including potholes which are being filled at a rate of 200 a day. The Leader has made available another £500,000 to fix the damage of the winter.

Emergency funds will fix the short-term problems but it is an unfortunate fact that road maintenance is woefully underfunded by central government. The cost of dealing with Surrey’s roads should not be left to the county’s taxpayers alone.

Surrey’s ‘A’ roads carry twice the national average traffic flow, almost 22,000 vehicles per day, and we estimate a fifth of this is through traffic which means one in five drivers do not contribute to the upkeep of Surrey’s roads.

It is time central government recognised our roads are buckling under the strain and ministers must make serious long term investment in the roads network so we can do the job demanded of us.

Dr Povey is absolutely right when he says the Government’s handling of Britain’s pothole blight is “farcical” after it was revealed in a Parliamentary debate that ministers don’t have a clue about how much it would cost to repair the nation’s roads, just one week before the Budget.

Like the Leader I am exasperated at the Government’s failure to provide proper funding to enable the council to look after its roads properly.

It is estimated at least £200 million is needed in Surrey alone to get the road network up to scratch but government has failed to provide all but the slimmest slice of this funding. Surrey residents alone provide the Exchequer with more than £700 million each year in road taxes, petrol duties and other road related charges, yet only receive £14m per year for highways.

Many of our staff have gone the extra mile in the recent winter weather. Assistant team managers Jenny Mein and Lesley Williams temporarily moved into Badgers Wood residential care home in Ottershaw to cover for staff who could not make it in, so that people with learning disabilities got the support they needed.

Elizabeth Egan, a care manager based in our Reigate office, walked five miles to and from her home in the countryside two days running to help ensure vulnerable adults were safe and well.

Contact centre colleagues went in early, working through their lunch break and stayed late to take calls from residents.

Highways colleagues and contractors worked around the clock salting roads, pavements and footpaths.

Facilities and security colleagues across Surrey went the extra mile to make sure all our offices stayed open so frontline services continued as normal, including workers at County Hall who arrived at 5.30am and worked 14 hour days.

IMT colleagues built six laptops at short notice for use by social care staff.

Great community spirit and support was shown byour partners and residents and helped us in many ways, including:

•10 Surrey farmers helped plough snow from our roads

•The Army offered to, and did, clear the snow, so patients, medical staff, visitors and ambulances could get in and out of Frimley Park Hospital

•In one incident a full petrol tanker got stuck on the A3 at the Hog's Back and we called on a farmer to tow it to safety and a gritter treated the road so the driver could head off to make his delivery.

Thanks to all our staff across all services who helped to keep Surrey moving.

Finally I am not complacent nor is the service and many of you will be aware that the combined Transportation and Safer & Stronger Communities Select Communities have been conducting a review into the future winter maintenance policy. We will be working with Local Committees, our Borough, District and Parish colleagues to see how we may improve our service to Surrey residents in the future within our diminishing resources. The Leader, Deputy Leader and myself will be making further representations to government. Dr Povey and Henry Smith, Leader of West Sussex, have backed calls by the Local Government Association for an immediate investment of £100m to patch up Britain’s potholes, but have argued that serious, long term investment is needed to create a world class road network in the region.

Quite simply the South East makes the single greatest contribution both to the overall economic wellbeing of the UK, but its ability to make an even greater contribution both to the UK economy and to UK tax revenues is being stifled by a lack of investment in its roads.