CUMBRIA County Council bosses have claimed the county's roads 'are improving'.

The council has published its new Highways Asset Management Strategy - a framework for future maintenance of the county’s road network. 

The new strategy sets out what the council will do over the next three years to ensure the council’s highways service is modern, efficient and customer focused. 

The strategy will drive decisions about future investment in the highway network and how the council will manage and maintain roads that it is responsible for, from dual carriageways to unclassified country roads. 

Cumbria has the fourth largest highway network in England, with7,900km of highway, 4,000km of footways and cycleways, 3,175 structures, (including 1,775 bridges, 901 culverts and 483 retaining walls), 105,000 road gullies and 45,951 street light columns.

Councillor Keith Little, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member responsible for highways and transport, said: “I’m delighted that Cabinet has approved our new Highways Asset Management Strategy, which will underpin all our highways maintenance schemes in the future. The latest condition survey shows our roads are improving overall, thanks to the increased investment we’ve made in highway maintenance in recent years, but we know there’s still much to be done. 

“The council is facing unprecedented budget pressures due to the government’s austerity measures, so it’s now more important than ever that we optimise our resources to ensure we can continue to provide safe and well managed roads. The new strategy will help us to secure the maximum amount of funding possible from the government and will drive all our highways maintenance work.”