Walsall Council earmarks extra cash for pothole repairs
05 Mar 10 00:02 Filed in: News | News-Walsall
Walsall Council earmarks extra cash for pothole repairs
Adam Lumley The YamYam 5 Mar 10
An additional £100,000 has been allocated to repairing frost damaged roads as Walsall Council struggles to fix the numerous potholes that blight highways across the borough.
A total of £5.7million will be spent on road maintenance in Walsall in the current financial year and a further £200,000 has been added to the roads budget for next year. Private contractor Tarmac won a four year highways maintenance contract with Walsall Council in May last year worth an estimated £7million per year to the Wolverhampton based construction giant. Earlier this week, the firm announced that it had secured a £250million contract with the Highways Agency to maintain motorways and trunks roads as part of the “Midlands Framework 4” initiative including the M1, M5, M6 and M42.
However, last summer saw operating profits slump and parent company Anglo American considering selling off Tarmac and axed 19,000 jobs worldwide in an attempt to save £1.2billion and fend off a £40billion takeover bid from rival company Xstrata.
During recent cold weather, Tarmac managed to distribute grit to 50% of the 500 miles of roads in Walsall and the council and its contractor were criticised after it emerged that grit supplies were being diverted to Birmingham following pressure from the government. The cold weather has also led to damage to carriageways and pavements and the extra cash is going to help repair crumbling roads.
Councillor Tom Ansell, Walsall Council cabinet member for transport, said: “It’s a major priority to keep the traffic moving across Walsall. Roads are our lifeblood and a great deal of time and resources are put into this. “Like other areas across the country we have been inundated with potholes which are caused by sub-zero conditions. “It is still a little early to assess the full extent of the damage to the road network. But we all recognise that there has been damage to the roads due to the severe weather this year and for that reason we have allocated a further £100,000 this financial year to enable a rapid response for potholes and other pressing problems. “On top of this we are putting in an extra £200,000 in the next financial year for highways maintenance.”
Whether the increase in budget will make any difference remains to be seen since the Council has also come under some considerable criticism concerning the poor quality of workmanship in repairing potholes - with holes reappearing within weeks, and in some cases, days, after being ‘repaired’.
BrownhillsBob 5 Mar 10 Comment: Not fixin’ a hole
Potholes: I thought I’d point out some of the absolutely dire road maintenance that Walsall Council seem to be deploying in response to the problem...
BrownhillsBob 3 Mar 10 Comment: The song remains the same
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Political Penguin 28 Feb Twit Pic
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