FOLLOWING what has been the harshest winter for many years, the South Oxfordshire and The Vale areas ‘Mr Pot-holes’, Keith Stenning, has described the pothole repair situation in the area as ‘an utter nightmare’.
Speaking at the annual Thame Town Meeting in a packed town hall, Mr Stennng explained how his team of 23 men, had a backlog of 5,000 pothole repairs – mostly reported by the public via the ‘Fix My Street‘ website (See full list of reports of potholes in Thame and Chinnor), and running over budget by £300,000. He explained how this winter had been one of freeze, thaw, freeze thaw – the main cause of the breakdown of Tarmac surfaces, and the various methods used to repair potholes, from the quick-fix and most used method of dobbing tarmac into a hole, to sawcutting and sealing – used only on A and B roads.
Government money not enough
Although Oxfordshire had received £1 million from the government in one tranch, and £1.6million recently, this money only covered minor repairs for six weeks, far from the Hundeds of millions needed to maintain all the road in Oxfordshire to the highest standard.
Promises for Park Street residents
In response to questions from residents, Mr Stenning explained that the planned repairs to the road next to the Rugby Club had been postponed because of wet weather, and that the work was now planned for mid-April. Regarding the state of Park Street, which has been the focus of much concern from residents, he said that repairs to the road and the pavement were planned for late Spring or early summer. As an example of the costs for repairs, the pavement repairs to Park Street will cost £60,000 and the road repairs, £75,000.
Water and sewage in Oxford Road
The matter of potholes dominated the meeting, with comments from a local motorcyclist concerned about safety to him and other motorcyclists, and residents and users of Oxford Road, where a photographs of a huge hole that had recently appeared there by Upper School, were handed to Mr Stenning. Descriptions of sewage water bubbling from a drain cover and water streaming from elsewhere in the area were met with a promise from him that he would look into the matter the following day and get it fixed. Other roads of concern brought up by residents included Lambert Walk, Wellington Street, Rooks Lane, the entrance to Lord Williams’s Upper School, and East Street.
A matter of balance
In conclusion, Mr Stenning admitted that road repairs all over the country was using ‘a sticking plaster approach’ and that the system he has to work under is complicated. It was his job to balance budgets, road use, resources and safety within national regulations.
County Councillor, Nick Carter, said that the authorities were looking at some way of introducing ‘routing agreements’ for developers with the potential to penalise them for their construction vehicles using inappropriate routes, and that there was scope to perhaps look at ways for developers to contribute towards paying for road damage.
