Potholes Dangerous Potholes - Stanberrow Rd

[Robert Preece]

I visited BB drop-in session last week and again reported Stanberrow Rd. and Belmont Rd. regarding craters, these had been reported to. Amey and BB when they took over in September.

I have just received a response as follows:

This request is currently awaiting inspection, sorry Colin.

[Chris Chappell]

I confirm what Bob says as I too reported these pot holes, again! There is suppose to be a contract with BB to repair all pot holes across county in three years. Not sure where we are with that but as Bob says it is on a list of to do jobs so watch this space.

[Colin James]

I visited BB drop-in session last week and again reported Stanberrow Rd. and Belmont Rd. regarding craters, these had been reported to. Amey and BB when they took over in September.

I have just received a response as follows:

This request is currently awaiting inspection, sorry Colin.

 

I confirm what Bob says as I too reported these pot holes, again! There is suppose to be a contract with BB to repair all pot holes across county in three years. Not sure where we are with that but as Bob says it is on a list of to do jobs so watch this space.

 

 Thanks guy's all your help is appreciated. 

[twowheelsgood]

Three years! Dream on - who writes these ridiculous contracts? Most pothole repairs I see don't last 3 weeks (a recent one in Mill St lasted about 2 weeks, its now back bigger than ever), so they're never going to get on top of it unless they a) start doing it properly and b) start implementing proper planned maintenance instead of waiting until someone complains.

[Chris Chappell]

Twowheelsgood, I understand that as part of the contractual agreement, BB, have to spend £20m in three years repairing pot holes/ resurfacing roads in the 'B'' & 'C' class. This includes estate roads, minor country roads etc. Herefordshire has twice the mileage of roads than Worcestershire, so the task is enormous, they will at the same time, be responsible for the non trunck 'A' roads across the county.

 

I think we ought to give them a little longer to get themselves organised. Where will they start? I, of course, want them to start in the area that I represent,but other councillors will want BB to start I thier wards. I think St. Martins & Hinton should take priority a view not shared by residents in Tupsley or Leominster!

[Robert Preece]

Yes there is 20 million but it is not being released till April next.

[dippyhippy]

Sorry to sound a bit thick, but if the 20 million pounds isn't released until April, what does that mean?

Is it that repairs wont start until then, or have they got money from another source to tide them over for the next 4 months?

This is probably a really stupid question....but I need a little help understanding the maths!!

[Chris Chappell]

No you are not being thick, Bob is correct. The £20m Knicks in at the beginning of the next financial year, 1st April. At the moment it appears. That BB are still setting things up. Bob Preece and I are not happy with the time it is taking to do smile jobs. An example was. The time it took, and the amount of emails from us, that it took to finish off Holme Lacy Road. We have reported the potholes across Red Hill for months, and we feel embarrassed when you guys, rightly, have a go at us but it is not our fault.

 

As part of the contract with the Council, BB have to spend this £20m in the three years. Until then I think the contract will state that they must do the other jobs on themoney available from this years general fund. I expect this is from the start up money. I really do not know the details. Sorry.

[twowheelsgood]

I find it staggering, although I'm not surprised, that we've entered into a 10 year £200m contract with a private company, yet councillors do not know even the basic facts of how it will be implemented or what they are expected to do or deliver. The £20m was supposed to have been there on Day 1, yet they've already managed to push it back 8 months. Highways work I've seen so far has been dismal quality, a continuation of the Amey standard, which is not surprising as its largely the same people. Why should we give them a little longer to get organised? They've had 3 months without even telephone lines.  It’s a very poor start - is this was what was agreed in the contract? If not, get tough with these people - its our money!

[Chris Chappell]

twowheelsgood, I have told you the basics, and Aril was always the start date for pot hole/resurfacing. Councillors can not possibly have all the brief details of every contract the LA has, but the details are available when needed.

[ragwert]

Interesting program on potholes on Ch 5 Tuesday 17 Dec at 8pm Pothole Britain Drivers beware

[Ubique]

What I would like to add to this discussion about potholes is that the Council ( I know it's BB that dun it) have just spent the last 5 days preparing and completely tarmacking part of Crowmoor Lane Tillington , a distance of at least 500 yards. It's the narrow lane that runs between the entrance to Stretton Nursing home and the road which runs between the Bell PH and Credenhill. This lane must take all of 20 vehicles a day . Did it need doing , maybe , but nowhere near the top of the list .

 

Secondly the Council ( BB) have just spent £12000 clearing the Travellers site on the bend just prior to entering Burghill , it needed clearing but ............, I will go and say that our Cllr has suggested that the cleared site should be sown with Poppies and other wild flower seed to commentate the start of WW1 , as a Regional Volunteer I agree 100% with her, however somebody must obtain a licence to cultivate from the Council - guess what , the licence costs in the region of £200 , plus £5million insurance cover etc etc.

[Colin James]

Councillor, they drove up dropped a small amount of tarmac in tow holes hammered it down and drove off, leaving lots of other holes untouched, my Mum told me that they were outside her house for no more than 2 minutes and even what they thought they had repaired came straight out of the hole again. Thank you for highlighting this again, is this now with Amey or Balfour?

 

Well well well, you see false economy, their 2 minute fix didn't last long did it! How much is all these repeat repairs costing? This is the same spot that was repaired last September. (have a look at the 1st picture at the top)  I took this picture this evening 

 

[dippyhippy]

Blimey!

It looks worse than ever - hard to believe any "repairs" have taken place along here!

[Robert Preece]

I will be attending a briefing with BB tomorrow and highway repairs will be the top of my agenda. I have seen a map showing repairs for the county but nothing for the city so I hope we don't have to put up with more rubbish "repairs"

I will report the outcome.

[Chris Chappell]

I will be with Bob and together I hope we can get the present plan altered.

 

At our request Amey came to fill in the holes on the new bridge by St Nicholas Street. All they did was tip a little Tarmac in the holes. I went past at 9am and knew by 4pm it would be out again, it was. Bob and I will raise this too.

[Colin James]

I will be attending a briefing with BB tomorrow and highway repairs will be the top of my agenda. I have seen a map showing repairs for the county but nothing for the city so I hope we don't have to put up with more rubbish "repairs"

I will report the outcome.

 

 

I will be with Bob and together I hope we can get the present plan altered.

 

At our request Amey came to fill in the holes on the new bridge by St Nicholas Street. All they did was tip a little Tarmac in the holes. I went past at 9am and knew by 4pm it would be out again, it was. Bob and I will raise this too.

 

Thank you guys it's appreciated   

[Robert Preece]

Just back from the meeting, very disappointed.

As you know the Council borrowed £20m towards highway repairs, the Government has put in £3.5m as well as that identified within the BB budget. As I write there are no plans for major repair work within the City and the "repairing" will continue, all major work is being carried out on roads in the county. The Council has paid out £750K in damage claims, Chris and I have told BB we need roads within the City repaired now.

Grass cutting and litter pick up will decrease, flower beds will cease to be maintained.

Chris will fill in what I have missed.

[Bill Thomas]

Just back from the meeting, very disappointed.

As you know the Council borrowed £20m towards highway repairs, the Government has put in £3.5m as well as that identified within the BB budget. As I write there are no plans for major repair work within the City and the "repairing" will continue, all major work is being carried out on roads in the county. The Council has paid out £750K in damage claims, Chris and I have told BB we need roads within the City repaired now.

Grass cutting and litter pick up will decrease, flower beds will cease to be maintained.

Chris will fill in what I have missed.

 

Your efforts gentlemen are certainly appreciated, this must be even more frustrating for you people having to answer to your constituents. Well all I can say is that the claims will just keep coming in, I think I know which is the cheaper alternative. 

[dippyhippy]

Thanks for the update Robert. It sounds like an extremely bleak picture doesn't it? I cannot understand why they find it such a difficult concept to grasp. Fix it properly, once - or do the same repair time and time again....but then, my understanding of "council maths" has never been that good!

[Roger]

Grass cutting and litter pick up will decrease, flower beds will cease to be maintained.

 

This is probably why I nearly lost my dog in Churchill Gardens this afternoon. It disappeared in the long grass. It was part cut a couple of weeks ago and BB then lost interest ~ half a job done and that's being generous. Unless people live under a stone they will have noticed that the slightly warmer weather has caused the grass to spurt in growth. So it all needs doing again.

 

I've no doubt some 'ring fenced' pet areas will get the favoured Council service tho. Like grass being cut and collected as opposed to the 'cut and leave it there' approach for large swathes of the City.

 

It's all well and good saying the Govt. austerity cuts have caused all this but when the Council Management are on these mega salaries then it aint gonna wash I'm afraid! 

[Ubique]

From HCC website

 

Budget to fix county’s roads announced.

[megilleland]

Hereford Times: 11:51am Thursday 10th April 2014 in Letters

 

Letter from Cllr Aubrey Oliver regarding pothole repairs in Herefordshire

 

Pothole repairs pouring money into a black hole

 

HEADLINES over road repairs raise a huge question mark yet again over our Conservative council’s ability to spend our money wisely.

 

Judging by the quality of the pothole repairs carried out to date by contractor Balfour Beatty, this will be £3.5 million worth of tarmac washed away by the next lot of torrential rain.

 

From repairs carried out on Hoarwithy Road, Winstone Road and on the Haywood to Callow road, the evidence is that all the tarmac dabbed into these potholes has lasted less than two to three weeks.

 

Is Balfour Beatty actually getting paid by Herefordshire council for this?

 

Is there anyone left on the staff with the ability or the time to check these repairs?

 

Surely after 12 years of talking about a scheduled programme for properly resurfacing our roads, one by one, our Conservative council could have initiated such a scheme.

 

And should it not also, after 12 years of allowing Jarvis, Amey and now Balfour Beatty to throw tarmac into potholes, have, by now, worked out a quality tested and agreed method for repairing the county’s roads?

 

Or are our potholes to remain “black holes†forever, draining away millions of pounds of our money into the hands of large scale public companies?

 

Councillor Aubrey Oliver (St Martins and Hinton Ward) Hoarwithy Road, Hereford

 

[Colin James]

Councillor, they drove up dropped a small amount of tarmac in tow holes hammered it down and drove off, leaving lots of other holes untouched, my Mum told me that they were outside her house for no more than 2 minutes and even what they thought they had repaired came straight out of the hole again. Thank you for highlighting this again, is this now with Amey or Balfour?

 

I am not surprised to be honest, they were outside my mums for a couple of minutes in total.

[Colin James]

To be fair, the whole road was resurfaced the other week, so good news and a great result here, long overdue but it was done in the end. Thanks to Bob and Chris for you help on this one.