WE learn of £50m extra money for pothole repairs in England. WooHoo, not.
At the last count there were 160,000 potholes in the south west alone.
Potholes are generally caused by road repairs that are poorly carried out and my experience as an ex-county councillor leads me to the conclusion that Wiltshire is particularly bad at monitoring what our facilities providers do to our roads when they carry out what they always class as "essential work." So essential you barely ever see a workman on site.
As an example, Wyke Road, from the lovely new roundabout at the Wickes end to the mini-roundabout at the B3106 junction that takes you down to Lidl, had over 200, yes not a misprint, 200 separate patches of road repairs. NOT where WC have filled in potholes but where over the past year or more, several utilities companies have carried out a variety of works and then patched it themselves.
Not one single patch was sealed, therefore they were prone to water ingress, freezing and thereby potholing, 200-plus patches in less than half a mile.
To add insult to a rough ride, the brand new Wickes end roundabout of the new relief road is already being dug up by the water companies. And so it begins all over again.
How can we finish a new roundabout and a few weeks later dig it up? It was not, according to the guys on site, essential work.
Mark Griffiths
Vinescroft
Staverton
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