Question reference: S6W-13430
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 21 December 2022
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Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it can offer to local authorities whose roads and other infrastructure are being affected by historical mine workings.
Answer
The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.
In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing over £13.2 billion in the Local Government Settlement 2023-24.
The local authority may also wish to contact the Coal Authority to establish if there is any recourse to them regarding the historical mine works.