Pothole Complaints

I feel a little sorry for the council when they are dealing with potholes. They must know that potholes are dangerous and I am sure that they cause many trips which then turn into many claims for damages. Everyone wants roads and pavements to be in good condition so it must be frustrating for council officers because potholes are many and resources are finite. The only thing they can do is to prioritise as some roads are certainly worse than others.

One method of prioritising is to listen to complaints and one of the things that I have been doing is letting the council know about the larger holes in our roads. One of the worst roads that I have come across shouldn't have needed me to write in to the council because many residents had already been in touch. In fact one of the first people that I spoke with told me that I didn't have to do anything (She also told me that she used to be a member of the Conservative Party) and I believed her for at least a few minutes.


Many others told me slightly different but similar stories. They told me that they had been in contact with the council and the responses ranged from the road would be resurfaced to it may be resurfaced if they could find the money and it would not be resurfaced along with many variations in between. One resident had even emailed the council to tell them he would be withholding his community charge until the road was resurfaced. Another had been asking the council to do something for five years. Reactions had ranged from civil disobedience to despair.

Imagine my surprise when I received the reply from the council that they had no existing records for complaints about the road. I have asked them to look again. I am feeling a little less sorry for the council officers.

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