Various Surrey County Councillors, including Alfold’s Cllr Kevin Deanus, put a roadworks schedule weekly on social media.
We wonder if he is raising merry-hell with the Executive on which he sits about the shocking state of the A281 Horsham to Guildford Road that, in sections, is becoming a danger to everyone using it.
We thought our roads in and around Farnham were terrible, but everyone should visit the Cranleigh by-pass. Are the highway honchos waiting for Dunsfold Airfield Limited to do the road up? Because if so, they may have a long wait.
The works schedule includes some beneficial hints, e.g. Stock up on your de-icing kit etc.
Perhaps it should include advice on carrying around a spare tyre on your back seat because new cars don’t have spare tyres, just a contraption to blow it up enough to get you to the nearest lay-by! Which won’t work when your tyre is shredded! Perhaps it should also include advice on driving on many of Waverley’s pot-holed roads at a maximum of 5 miles per hour, so you can spot potholes that will wreck your tyres and wheels.
Or perhaps some advice on driving on the right side of the road rather than swerving onto the other facing oncoming traffic to avoid the potholes!
Or Perhaps – provide some ‘do it yourself pothole filling kits,’ so those poor unsuspecting nurses, social workers, teachers and office workers, and all those doomed drivers like us don’t end up spending more on car repairs than we earn in a week!
However, at a county council meeting last week (when council tax was raised again), here’s a clip f what was said. In a nutshell – yep, you guessed. ‘It’s the Government’s fault.”
Levelling up should include Surrey’s roads
2020 Analysis reveals roads investment three times higher in London
“The County Councils Network (CCN), which has produced the research, says that lower funding for shire counties and regional investment being disproportionately skewed towards urban areas has left motorists in their areas ‘poor relations’ to those in the major cities. Leaders of England’s county authorities are calling for a fair share of the government’s new £2bn pothole fund and a long-term commitment to ‘level up’ investment.
The figures show that the 36 shire counties in the analysis were able to spend £20,885 per mile on road repairs, pothole filling, and constructing new junctions and networks last year. In contrast, the 31 councils in London are able to spend £62,350 per mile. The 36 urban metropolitan councils spent £41,929 per mile, while England’s eight ‘core cities’ are in a position to invest £57,241 per mile.”
https://www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk/category/ccn-news-2020/
Beneficial and informative information for which our followers and we will find very useful. The state of our roads is an absolute disgrace!
Is Tim Oliver sure he is getting his facts right? does he mean there were Only 32,000 Potholes or that only 32,000 were actually filled? Trying to report Potholes is a nightmare and I am sure most people have simply given up.
The Report it Section on the WBC Website gives various Options – If you select the Streets & Car Parks Including Street Cleaning Option, it takes you to the SCC Pot Holes, street Lighting etc…
It then takes you to a screen that asks What is the Issue?
With this Notice:
“Important message
We are currently receiving a high volume of reports that we are working hard to investigate and repair. Additional resources; inspectors and work gangs have been deployed throughout the county to address these. When reporting your issue please check the map to see if it has already been reported, if so you do not need to report again. If you are reporting an emergency please phone 0300 200 1003”
You then have to select from 4 Options:
– Pothole Shallower than 3cm
– Pothole Deeper than 3cm and Wider than 15cm
– Road or pavement with an uneven or worn surface
– Pothole that is highly likely to result in serious consequences and requires an immediate response
The last option just takes you a screen asking you to call 0300 200 1003 – anytime…
It is not that I do not have a tape measure in my car……… but by this stage I start to lose the will to live… But once you get to the Map to try to say where the Pot Hole is you need to put in a Postcode or Road then identify the location ie House number, Bus stop,Shop, etc.. Hmmmmm
The Map shows those that have been reported, resolved or New, but you can only report ONE Pothole then you have to do it all again for the other 19 Potholes on the small stretch of road in question!!!
Ideally they would like photographic evidence…Not easy when you are driving and there are no pavements. The amount of times I have seen the “Work Gangs” Patching one hole and completely ignoring the others around it, no wonder only 32,000 have been reported.