Council puts extra funds into pothole repairs

Surrey County Council is taking immediate action to tackle the increase in potholes following the severe weather by investing an additional £½ million into pothole repairs.

During such severe weather, the road becomes brittle because of the cold, and cracks can develop. If water gets in and freezes it expands and so makes a bigger hole and once the surface is broken deterioration is very quick. The repeated freezing and thawing process over such a prolonged period only makes this worse.

Leader of the council Dr Andrew Povey announced the additional funding saying:

“For the past week our highways teams have been working around the clock tackling the snow. Now that most of the snow has cleared our top priority is to tackle as a matter of urgency the potholes that have been forming all over the county. We are aiming to fix at least 200 potholes a day until the job is done This extra money is on top of the annual budget for pothole repairs.”

“It is encouraging to hear motoring and engineering organisations calling on the Government to provide emergency funding for councils to carry out these repairs, and even more so to hear that the Department for Transport (DfT) will consider requests for extra funding. It would be irresponsible of them not to do so. We will be asking the DfT to consider Surrey’s financial shortfall following the extreme weather. But it’s important that we as a council do our bit and find the money needed to help address the immediate problem of particular concern to local residents.”

Paul Watters, Head of Roads and Transport Policy for the Automobile Association has welcomed the councils prompt actions aimed at helping prevent damage to vehicles and reducing risk to road users he said:

“The AA has been calling for emergency funding to fix the growing plague of potholes which have broken out following the recent severe weather.”

The council has more than 25 repair teams carrying out the repairs and will bring in additional contractors if necessary. Urgent repairs are being dealt with quickly then ‘A’ roads will be prioritised as they carry the most traffic. Once the A road network is in an acceptable condition the teams will work through other roads.

Locally, Surrey County Council has just published a closure order for Daneshill, effective from 25 January 2010 for nine months.  Cllr Julian Ellacott commented:

“This suggests that the long awaited resurfacing is finally going to take place.  Water works are due to take place first, followed by a reconstruction of the carriageway.  Residents should note that the closure will not necessarily last for the full 9 months – it is standard practice to apply for a closure order lasting for a long period of time, to allow for contingencies.”