Councillors clash over road maintenance claims

Two weeks ago, the Newbury Weekly News reported how Keith Woodhams (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) obtained figures from the 2011-12 Audit Commission Highways report, which showed the council spent less than half the average on its road maintenance on its primary roads compared with other unitary authorities.
However, Mr Lundie has since accused Mr Woodhams of ‘misleading the public’, claiming he failed to make it clear it that the data in the report covered the principal roads - which he says accounts for just nine per cent of the council’s total road network.
Mr Lundie, said: “Had councillor Woodhams carried out due diligence, he would have asked the Highways Department for the latest set of figures and he would then have discovered that the overall condition of the principal road network is in fact improving.
“I would urge him to make the effort to communicate with the Highways Department or the Executive Member for Highways before making statements in public that are designed to mislead.
“The public should be able to have confidence in the facts and figures that they are being given.”
However, Mr Woodhams hit back, saying: ”It doesn’t matter if the figure covers nine per cent or 99 per cent of the council’s network. They should be spending more money and doing a better job, it’s as simple as that.
“You can’t hide behind facts from the Audit Commission and you can’t just ignore residents’ concerns. I have had so many calls from residents’ complaining of poor workmanship over the past year and it needs to be addressed.”