A message from our Chair of Highways and Transport.<\/p>\n
We are now firmly into pothole season. Historically this is when reports rise sharply, usually peaking in February before easing back to normal levels by May. Periods of freezing weather cause additional spikes, so once the snow and ice clear we expect a noticeable increase in reports.<\/p>\n
This happens every year. We have made progress in recent years in reducing the peak, but this remains the toughest period and the one where pressure is highest.<\/p>\n
We do proper lessons-learned and plan improvements for the following winter in May when the season is over. <\/p>\n
A few important points<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022\u2060 \u2060Bad weather is the worst time to carry out pothole repairs and is when repairs are most likely to fail. What has already improved<\/strong><\/p>\n Over the summer and autumn we made some significant changes:<\/p>\n \u2022\u2060 \u2060A new asset management system enabling faster ordering and proper tracking from instruction through to completion. Things we know still need work and are actively being looked at:<\/p>\n \u2022\u2060 \u2060The M-Group contract, particularly the lack of penalties for poor workmanship beyond redoing the job. What we\u2019re doing now<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022\u2060 \u2060We\u2019ve relaunched operation \u201cSeek and Destroy\u201d this year, with more proactive \u201cfind and fill\u201d activity. One final point: for standard pothole repairs we pay a fixed rate. If a crew is inefficient, slow, or finishes early, that cost sits with Milestone, not the council. Efficiency is their issue to resolve, not one that increases council spend.<\/p>\n This period is always difficult, but it is understood, planned for, and being actively managed. Things do improve as we move into spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A message from our Chair of Highways and Transport. We are now firmly into pothole season. Historically this is when reports rise sharply, usually peaking in February before easing back to normal levels by May. Periods\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenyoung.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022\u2060 \u2060If you see poor workmanship or a failed repair, please report it.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Please also report potholes you find. Inspectors pick up around 75% of defects, but at this time of year potholes open up very quickly. If we do not know about it, we cannot fix it.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Better integration with Milestone so repairs are properly closed off.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Randomised quality sampling of completed repairs.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Record levels of resurfacing and surface treatment delivered.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Trials to reduce \u201cpothole quilt\u201d outcomes.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060A new active travel maintenance hierarchy so key walking and cycling routes are treated appropriately.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060A reorganisation of highway maintenance <\/p>\n
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Intervention levels, especially around so-called \u201cteenage\u201d potholes that are not quite at threshold but inevitably grow.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Data. Our data has improved significantly over the last three years, but there is still a challenge in getting good data quickly.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Weekly multi-agency meetings to coordinate response. One of the biggest challenges at the moment is managing streetworks and roadspace permissions given the volume of work.
\u2022\u2060 \u2060Bringing in extra resources, including additional crews, to reduce the backlog.<\/p>\n