Pothole problems raised at the House of Commons last week
POTHOLE problems and the need for major road resurfacing works in Tamworth were raised at the House of Commons last week.
Tamworth’s MP Sarah Edwards spoke on behalf of her residents in calling for more work to be done.
She said: “My constituents have raised concerns with me about the number of potholes throughout Tamworth.
“We are seeing some filled in which is positive news but many remain unfilled and there is a broader need for resurfacing works on roads with higher volume of traffic and those impacted by heavy goods vehicles.
“What assessment has the government made of the adequacy of the funding that has been provided to county councils to deal with our crumbling road infrastructure?”
She was then told: “Well the Honorable Lady will know that because of the particularly bad weather situations we have recently had, there has been a considerable uplift and money given to local authorities to tackle precisely the types of issues raised.
“Because we want to be assured, although that money wasn’t ring fenced, it has been spent on those things correctly, all local authorities are required to place in the public domain, I think on March 15, what they have done with that money and what repairs they have carried out.
“It is extremely important that that work is done.
“We want to ensure that it is being done and has been done and I am sure the Honorable Lady will be able to find out exactly what has been spent and on what.”
Speaking after, Sarah said: “Some potholes have been filled in across Tamworth, which is positive news. But many remain unfilled and there is a broader need for major road resurfacing works.
“I asked the Leader of the House if more can be done to make funding available for local councils to fix our crumbling roads.” David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, told the Herald: “We have one of the largest road networks in the country (6,000 kilometres) and keeping our highways in a good state of repair remains an ongoing and costly challenge.
“Last year, we completed around 16,000 pothole jobs around the county, which often consist of two or three defects.
“The recent very wet weather has seen a rise in new pothole reports, and our crews will be carrying out numerous temporary and permanent repairs to the roads.
“All reported issues are inspected as soon as possible and assessed for their severity, and we deal with any defect that poses an immediate risk as a priority.
“Those that are deemed as lower risk are repaired as and when resources allow.
“We have already put additional crews out on our network to be able to carry out more repairs and, as we move into the summer, road repair season will bring in other equipment such as velocity patching to help speed up the repair of localised road surface defects.
“I would encourage people to report potholes via www.staffordshire.gov.uk/reportit so we can record them on the system and prioritise accordingly.”
Last month we told how Coton Lane was set for a major road resurfacing.
“All reported issues are inspected as soon as possible and assessed for their severity, and we deal with any defect that poses an immediate risk as a priority.”