Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to (a) reduce congestion in Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) improve road maintenance in rural areas.

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network. For England as a whole, the Government has a manifesto commitment to enable local highway authorities to fix up to a million extra potholes a year.

Lincolnshire County Council is the local highway authority for the Boston and Skegness constituency, and it is therefore responsible for the maintenance of its local highway network. Lincolnshire County Council will receive £43.6 million from this Department during 2024/25 to help it carry out its local highway maintenance responsibilities. It is up to the local authority to decide how that funding is used.

Lincolnshire County Council will also receive £3.3 million for small scale transport improvements including reducing congestion through the Integrated Transport Fund.

To help reduce congestion through improving traffic flow, the Department has also provided Lincolnshire County Council with £878,352 for traffic systems since 2021: £250,000 from the Traffic Signal Maintenance Grant in 2021, and £500,000 from the Green Light Fund, and £128,352 from the Traffic Signal Obsolescence Grant in 2024.