Like many councillors I’ve spent the last few weeks reporting all the potholes I can spot on our local roads. Its a pretty thankless task – sometimes you think it would be easier to send in a list of all the places that don’t have potholes. So far I’ve reported them on Granville, Inderwick, Nelson, Stapleton Hall and Mount View Roads (this photo is from Mount View).
Of course, the current rash of potholes has been caused by the snow and ice, and the Lib Dems have pressed the Council to do a special survey to identify these new holes. However, the Council have refused to go out and find the holes themselves and instead say they will only fill them if they are reported by residents or councillors.
I think this neglectful policy is absolute madness, as it gaurantees some potholes are missed and not repaired. The Council has a duty to keep our streets safe and potholes are incredibly dangerous for cyclists and motorcyclists. Its not acceptable for Labour to just decide potholes are not a priority.
The long term solution is for the roads with the most potholes to be completely resurfaced. It’s such a waste of money to keep patching-up roads where the surface is completely worn out and crumbling away. I’ve called time and time for these roads to be resurfaced – but too often the Council refuse to act, even though it would mean saving money in the long run.
