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A pothole in Evendons Lane near White House School.
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More cash needed to cover pothole repairs

By Victoria Corbett
March 09, 2010

Extra funding to keep the borough’s roads pothole-free may have to be released following January’s severe weather.

Snow and freezing temperatures during January have caused an influx of potholes on the borough’s road network.

Wokingham Borough Council’s highways maintenance contract has covered the cost of filling the gaps, however a review of road conditions may lead to a demand for further funds.

The Wokingham Times asked the council if its contractor would repair all potholes, regardless of their size, under the current contract.

Mark Moon, general manager of place and neighbourhoods, said: “All potholes, regardless of size, are repaired by the borough council’s contractors under the highway’s maintenance contract.

“The council does not pay more to repair very large potholes as there is already an appropriate rate in the contract to cover them.

“The cost of repairing the borough’s roads following the severe weather in January is currently being covered within the council’s existing highways maintenance budget, although it might be necessary to ask for additional money following the highways inspectors’ current review of the network’s condition.”

Councillor Prue Bray, leader of Wokingham Liberal Democrats, said she had spotted 14 potholes in just one week while driving around the borough, including in Evendons Lane outside White House School.

The Lib Dems expected the number of claims by drivers whose cars had been damaged after driving over potholes to increase following the bad weather.

However, figures released to the party by the council showed just 18 claims had been made, compared to 20 during the same period last year.

Dozens of potholes have been reported to the council via the Fix My Street website. The council responds to requests by residents for potholes to be fixed on the website once problems have been solved.

One report in January said a large pothole had appeared in Wellingtonia Avenue that was up to five inches deep. It was repaired the day after the report.

However, Cllr Bray said the council cannot guarantee to repair all potholes immediately after they have been reported because of the sheer volume of damage to roads following the cold snap.

Water expands when it freezes, causing existing cracks on roads to become wider and eventually form a pothole.

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I agree with George Davidsons position. Simply patching up holes (whilst necessary) will not solve the issue. Councils clearly have finite resources and repairing roads hasn't, I suspect been a great vote winner in the past. However, they are now becoming properly dangerous and as Mr Davidson points out, particularly to motorcyclists and bike riders. If there is capital expenditure budget available, then Mr Davidson appears to have fully answered CMAs criticism. I'm going to buy some shares in manufacturers of steering and suspension components - they're the only people benefiting from the current situation !

Simsy, Wokingham
17/03/2010 at 20:01

Its funny how funding for all sorts of new road schemes seems to be quite available but the maintenance of roads seems to be beyond the council. You only have to have a short drive around to see how many roads are in a dreadful state in the borough. My car was badly damaged by hitting a hole in the road last year; when I stopped the car to take a look there was litterally a 7in deep hole in the road (it bent my wheel). I complained to the council whos response was you need to prove were at fault.. mmm where to start? funnily enough though the hole was filled THE NEXT DAY but the rest of the road was left! unbelievable!!!

I agree with Andy Moss this would be a vote winner for me.

ipfreely
11/03/2010 at 03:34

Everybody moans about the state of the roads, but everybody would also moan if their council tax rises to fund more repairs!!.....the council can't win!! The idea of resurfacing at least 4% of Wokingham Boroughs roads every year would also be a non starter even if the council did have the funds, it would involve 4 times more distruption with road works..and guess what, we'd all moan about that also.

Having driven down the Easthampstead Road the other day, I can't see the problem with this road..all seems fine to me...I think there would be an argument if the road surface was like that outside the council offices (which looks like it will be resurfaced in the next few weeks :-)) ..also I think you will find that pothole repairs are not designed to be permanent they are merely done to remove the imediate danger.....

I don't think Wokingham is doing that bad with the potholes, from what I have seen they are at least trying to repair them...HAVE YOU DRIVEN IN READING LATELY??

Its amazing how many experts we have all of a sudden!!

The Wise Old Man
10/03/2010 at 23:46

I would consider voting for anyone who can get our roads re-surfaced!

I live on Easthampstead Road nr the bingo hall and I have complained to the council over 6 times to have the narrow section of road resurfaced. The road is full of undulations, bumps and dips that our house is being shaken repeated by heavy lorries roaring past and it is now starting to cause damage to our house! does the council care? not on your life!!!

Guaranteed that if one of the toffs down Priest Avenue or Murdoch road complains, the council would be out that same day to fix things!

Also, who is checking the quality of the work being done? Does the council or contractor have someone that is accountable for this? There is a pothole by Sorentos (in this example) in town that has just been filled in the last couple of day. Whoever done this has done such a shocking poor job of it it that it still needs doing all over again. How on earth is that a productive use of time and money?

Andy Moss
10/03/2010 at 12:12

Maybe we could all get a reduction on our road taxes. or an address to send our damaged tyre receipts to. YEAH LIKELY!

blue diamond, reading
10/03/2010 at 09:21

Thanks CMA. You can call me George.

I'd take money out of the council's capital budget to pay to resurface the worst roads in the borough. There is about £10million currently just sitting in the bank and at this time earning very low rates of interest. I think it would be better spent resurfacing the worst roads. The Govt wants us to keep a minimum of £6million in the reserves to be safe. So that gives us £4m straight away to spend on capital projects (e.g. building things not paying salaries, resurfacing roads not filling potholes).

Because they would no longer be filling the holes in the very worst roads from the main (revenue) budget because these are getting completely resurfaced. It would leave you free to fill the other potholes in the borough from this budget.

We would have to put a bit aside to make up for the loss of interest from the money in the capital budget. But as interest rates are so low this would not be a substantial amount.

The Council are required to fill potholes that are reported to them so they have to do them anyway. Plus, it saves Mrs Jones from Woodley and people like her the cost of repairing her car. It seems unfair she has to pay her council tax AND her repair bill.

I think it would then be sensible to try to resurface about 4% of the council's roads each year. That way each road would have to last only 25 years. This would substantially reduce the council's expenditure on random pothole filling as the nice newly resurfaced roads are much better wearing.

George Davidson, Labour PPC for Wokingham
09/03/2010 at 13:58

George Davidson, where would you take money from to invest in the roads?

You've criticised Tories but haven't proposed a suitable alternative that Labour will follow, so all in all your comment was absolutely useless. You haven't even said you won't do exactly the same, or invest even less than they will.

CMA
09/03/2010 at 12:37

I wish they'd get on with it. I've begun changing the line i drive on the roads to avoid some of these potholes. Of course that was not before I damaged my tyres on them!

Mrs Jones, Woodley
09/03/2010 at 12:23

By saying they have "covered the cost", it implies the work it done. It very much isn't. In fact, I've barely seen a pot hole filled. You just need to look at the road outside the council's own offices on Shute End to see the awful state of some of our most major roads, let alone the bigger pot holes in the area. And on top of that, we are now getting a *reduction* in highways funding, so we can expect more potholes, more surfaces breaking up, and fewer clear line markings on the roads leading to more accidents as drivers don't know what they are doing at junctions (eg lane arrows for "left turn only" lanes etc).

Highways (incl street lighting and street cleaning), rubbish collection, police and fire are about the only services from which I actually benefit from my council tax, not that I mind paying for schools etc but I'm really getting fed up with paying more for less all the time. It won't change with a different government either.

mavdo, Wokingham
09/03/2010 at 10:29

Clearly this problem has been exacerbated by the cold weather, but the Tory leaders of the council have only themsleves to blame.

They have invested so little money in highways that it has now come back to haunt them.

They resurface just 1% of the borough's roads every year meaning each road will have to last 100 years!

No wonder then the roads are in such a bad state. These are dangerous enough when you consider the damage they can do to a car and the cost of replacing a tyre but they are lethal to cyclists and motorbikes.