Don’t worry, unlike your Liberal Councillors who in their recent "Focus" newsletter, have highlighted, that potholes can be reported on the Redbridge I website (many of us do not have access to internet). We have been reporting items irrespective of receiving a complaint. Moreover, we have been lobbying for better funding. The very severe winter we have just survived has exacerbated the poor condition of our local roads – some of the roads we have reported include:
• Reynolds Avenue
• Brian Road
• Somerville Road
• Havering Road
• Gresham Drive
• High Road
• Second Avenue
Jarrow Road, Chadville Gardens and Bishops Road have also been reported.
Disappointingly the reactive maintenance team have not been able to repair the holes due to a very limited budget. A recent email from the lead officer from the reactive team stated:
“Apologies for the delayed response, but, as you probably are aware, we are completely inundated with numerous reports of potholes right across the borough. We are trawling through these as best we can, and, because of lack of funds, we are currently only able to undertake the most urgent and dangerous repairs. Although Ajay is the officer responsible for Chadwell Ward, he also covers Seven Kings, Newbury, Clementswood, Loxford, Mayfield and Goodmayes Wards. He is currently checking the list of roads referred to below, and will issue works orders for emergency repairs only, anything less serious will have to wait until further funding becomes available.” Received 10th March 2010.
It would seem our lobbying has had some effect as the cabinet has now earmarked a budget of £250,000 to resolve (some of) over 8000 reported potholes. The funds were made available via the Government’s “Local Authority Business Growth Initiative” (LSBGI)
I find the pothole problem a very interesting one - during last summer, while driving around some of the borough's roads, I noticed a number of cases where cracks had appeared, mainly, longitudinally between successive 'lanes' of tarmac (as new tarmac is laid in several lanes or strips from one side of the carriageway to the other) but also across the carriageway due, no doubt, to repeated seasonal expansion and contraction.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, my wife and I wondered how much it might cost if the council sent out a small team - possibly as small as one - to pour tar into these cracks and seal them before the frost arrived to freeze and expand the cracks, which is, of course, the pre-cursor of the creation of potholes.
A comparison of the cost of such pre-emptive action compared with the real cost of repair might be very intersting ...
"Potholes might become a thing of the past". Pigs might fly......
ReplyDeleteHey, I did write "temporarily" and "might".
ReplyDelete