Rutland County Council asks for more money to tackle potholes
It's despite them having an existing budget of over £400,000
A council has asked for more money to be allocated towards fixing potholes.
The cabinet of Rutland County Council has asked for more money to be allocated for fixing potholes, despite an existing budget of £423,200.
Speaking to fellow cabinet members at a meeting on Tuesday (July 11), Cllr Christine Wise (Lib Dem) said: “Firstly we need to approve the existing allocation of money from the Department for Transport for fixing potholes on Rutland’s roads which is £423,200 – but I can tell you now that amount does not fix many potholes.
“I am then asking members to authorise the strategic director of places, Penny Sharp, in consultation with the principal highways manager, Andrew Tatt, to agree any substitution of projects if the identified schemes cannot proceed or if costs increase.”
She said the funding was currently allocated to areas that have been identified but if any sites came forward that needed fixing more urgently, they would need to swap.
“I do have to warn the cabinet that rising costs may also limit the numbers of repairs that we can carry out,” Cllr Wise added.
“We are looking at several techniques for fixing potholes, some of which are proactive such as resurfacing to prevent potholes occurring in the first place: we currently use ‘patching’ to repair minor defects, while others require fixing works you may have heard about. One such measure is known as a ‘thermo-patching’ which requires the Tarmac to be pre-heated until it melts, and then more tarmac is added as a ‘filler-patch’ repairing the hole.
“Thermo-patching is quicker than the ‘full depth roadway hole replacement’ method which requires digging out the hole entirely and then repairing it, so we can do a greater number of pothole repairs, but thermo-patching is also slightly more expensive as a solution.”
Leader of the council Gale Waller (Lib Dem) said: “Can I have your reassurance that the potholes currently on your schedule of repairs are reassessed before any work is carried out as I know that some of the work has already been done to repair areas since that last assessment was carried out.”
Deputy leader, Cllr Andrew Johnson (Lib Dem) added: “I also think it important that we determine that the works currently being carried out in several villages by Severn Trent Water are not making the matter any worse.
“I welcome the fact that we are exploring thermo-patching as from what I understand of the process it should give us a better, longer-lasting result and therefore better value for money. Where I would urge caution is that the process is only potentially more successful if the substrate is in good condition, and I jut want to make sure that we don’t over-promise to residents that it is a magic solution. There aren’t any magic solutions.”
Strategic director of places, Penny Sharp responded: “We will work very closely with any contractor to make sure that we use the right solution for the correct situation – we have seen good results in the last 12 months from thermo-patching and it also helps towards our carbon reduction program.”
Members voted unanimously to approve the recommendations for the allocation of funds for fixing potholes.