Coventry's potholed roads to be closed rather than repaired

[dutchman]

Huge budget cuts could mean roads in Coventry may ultimately be closed off if the council runs out of money to fix them.



That’s according to a council transport boss who says unprecedented cuts could mean the council not being able to afford all the repairs they need to carry out in the city.

Labour Coun Rachel Lancaster, Coventry City Council cabinet member for public services, has warned that if the £11.5million highways budget is used up that could even mean closing roads which became dangerous.

The funding, which includes around £7.4m for road repairs, was completely used up last year – and has now been reduced by £500,000 amid central government funding cuts.

Essential repairs covered by the funds include potholes, drains and footpaths.

But, if funds run low, a spell of bad weather could mean the council can’t afford repairs and some of the road network becomes unusable.

Coun Lancaster said: “We have had our budgets decrease incrementally over the past years, with 500K removed from the overall pot this year.

“We would only take a decision to close a road if it were unsafe, to protect the public.

“Thankfully due to a robust program of preventative treatments, surface dressing to seal the road and prevent water ingress, our network is in satisfactory condition with major roads being in good condition.”

A recent report from the Local Government Association called for central government to provide local councils with better funding to support road repairs.

They describe the lack of financial support as a “maintenance timebomb” and warn that, even without a predicted increase in traffic, councils face crises on their road networks.

The report states current funding is not sufficient to repair a huge backlog of existing problems, let alone repair new ones.

It reads: “Even if no increase in traffic levels were forecast, the condition of Britain’s roads is rapidly approaching crisis point – indeed in some areas the crisis is upon us.

“The shortage of funds for long term preventative maintenance is reflected in the long term rise in the number of potholes being filled.

“The current backlog of road maintenance would cost £12billion to fix and would take around ten to 12 years to clear.

“That sum has grown over recent years so not only do we have a backlog which would take over a decade to eradicate, but that backlog is growing.”

[rebbonk]

Lancaster again!

The sooner this woman goes, the better.

[dutchman]

Revealed: The £150million cost of fixing Coventry's broken roads


Coun Rachel Lancaster

It would take £150million to bring Coventry’s roads up to a good standard according to the councillor in charge of maintaining them.

That amount is 20 times the £7.4million Coventry City Council has budgeted for 12 months of road repairs - meaning it would take 20 years just to fix existing problems on the city’s roads.

Council figures also show 100 potholes are reported every week, just part of the ongoing battle to keep the city’s roads functional.

The Telegraph yesterday reported concerns that roads could be forced to close if they become dangerous after maintenance funding was cut by £500,000 for the year.

But she insisted some improvements had been made and said: “When I became cabinet member we had a backlog of over 700 potholes per week, now on average we have 100 reported from both inspectors and the general public each week and roughly manage to complete the same number.

“As always it’s a rolling program and it includes all highway repairs, drains and pavements, not just potholes. We currently do not have any reported potholes on the system older that one month.

“Coventry A-roads are rated fifth best in the country, a great achievement by highways staff.”

She added: “I would say that non A-roads are maintained to a satisfactory standard and that to improve them to a good or better standard would take easily £50million.

“Add to that footways which cost more, about £100 per square metre, and I could spend £150 million easily, but it’s the ongoing preventative maintenance on a yearly basis which extends the lifespan of roads.

“It’s not enough to bung a new road in then leave it for 40 years.

“With an ever diminishing pot of money for roads in the city I can only see our job getting more difficult.”

[rebbonk]

Then perhaps it might be an idea to bring back the clerk of works to oversee the repairs?

Many of the 'repairs' that we get are little more than sub-standard bodges, that will barely last until the tarmac's set.

[dutchman]

That's true.

A famous example is when the bus lane in the Butts was laid with the wrong coloured tarmac. It had to be dug up again and relaid. If anyone from the council had been present they would have spotted the mistake immediately.

On the other hand by not supervising the work the council can refuse to pay for it if it isn't done correctly.