RESURFACING work has started to permanently repair Dorset’s most damaged residential roads, including those in Child Okeford.

Earlier this year, the Department for Transport awarded £9.1million to Dorset Council as part of the Governments £1.7billion injection of funding to local highway authorities across the country, through the newly created Transport Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Dorset Highways has recently set out how it will be investing this additional funding, with around £2million being spent to target ‘defect clusters’ on its minor road network.

Jacobs Ladder, Rectory Lane, Greenway, Chalwell and Homefield, all in Child Okeford, will be resurfaced using this investment.

Nearly 50 of Dorset Council’s most damaged residential roads, which currently have a significant amount of reactive repair work carried out on them, or are expected to in the near future, will be resurfaced over the next two months.

Dorset Highways’ private sector partner, Hanson Contracting UK, will be carrying out the additional work. Each site will take around one-day to complete.

Working hours will be from 8am to 4pm and will cause some unavoidable noise disruption due to the nature of the work.

Residents are being asked to look out for yellow advance notice boards which will be put out on site before works start and provide dates of the closure on their road.

Councillor Ray Bryan, portfolio holder for highways, travel and environment, said this investment is "much-needed" as these minor roads are “too damaged for any other road surface treatment".

He added: “By carrying out annual inspections on our roads, as well as recording reports by residents, we can prioritise repairs across the Dorset Council area – which has 1,200 miles of residential roads – and these residential streets are at the top of the list.

“We know that many residents have concerns about their roads and we will continue our work to improve their condition.”