DORSET’S road are “vastly superior” to many areas in the country and compare favourably to neighbouring counties – according to highways portfolio holder Cllr Ray Bryan.

He said the county could be proud of its roads, with a few exceptions, especially considering a cut-back in financial support for Dorset from the Department for Transport.

Cllr Bryan told Monday’s place and resources scrutiny committee that the council would find extra funding to make up some of the shortfall for schemes which were needed.

He said the council was also doing all it could, in its highways work, to help reduce carbon emissions, partly by experimenting with new materials for road re-surfacing and new ways of working. One of these includes low-carbon asphalt which, although the up-front costs were much the same as the traditional material, the make-up of the material meant it required less energy to produce and lay, with the evidence so far, suggesting that it would last just as long as traditional asphalt.

The meeting heard that highways operational budgets were continuing to face risks because of the rise in prices of some materials, in addition to fuel costs for its own fleet and for businesses which carried out work on behalf of the authority. These included an “unprecedented” rise of 40 per cent in the costs of bitumen.

Cllr Bryan said that one of the other risks for Dorset Council remains that some of the materials used on the county’s road are imported, although officers are increasingly trying to ensure that supplies come from as close to Dorset as possible to remain  sustainable  Councillors were told that in some cases this may lead to a slight drop in specification, although still within safety parameters.

Cllr Bryant said the same sustainable approach applied to scalpings, which are shaved from roads when they are resurfaced. He said that a policy of finding other uses for this material within 4-5 miles of where a job was taking place, had generally proved to be successful.

Cllr Bryan said in the view of many people much of the delays on the roads were focused on the council although he said that, in reality, 90 per cent of the complaints were generated by utility companies digging up roads for their own reasons.

“It’s the utility companies which are responsible for the bulk of the disruptions on the road. Where we do the work we do it as fast as we can,” he said, “The favourite question I get asked is ‘why can’t you do this at night?’ which is fine as long as you are not the one who is going to get disturbed all night,” he said.