Potholes continue to cause problems

Despite a claim of fewer potholes, residents have still accused West Berkshire Council of shoddy repair work

WEST Berkshire Council has said there are fewer potholes this winter compared to last, but residents have accused the council of shoddy repair work and garages claim they are still doing a roaring trade repairing cars with pothole damage.

The council has said that a significantly lower amount of potholes has been reported to them than last year.

In December 2009, the council spent £41,000 on emergency pothole repairs, during the same month last year, only £12,500 was needed.

Council spokesman Phil Spray said: “The number of potholes reported in the district is significantly lower than last year but we are continuing to repair them as quickly as possible.

“We currently have three teams responding to general reports of surface damage across the district.

“There are a further two teams which are specifically responding to emergencies that are more than 50mm in depth.

“The response time for these is no more than about two hours.

He says that they have had approximately 100 reports of potholes deeper than 50mm and that they have used 50 tonnes of material repairing them.

Not everyone agrees that the problems have been dealt with satisfactorily, however.

A Shaw shopowner, Sarah Patel, said: “I think it is ridiculous, you call them to come out and then they repair one pothole, but leave the one next to it as it is.

“And the workmanship is shoddy too, they'll repair it one day and it will be back the next.

The owner of Miller's Garage in Bone Lane, Newbury, said: “We haven't had as many people who have come in with pothole damage as we did last year, but I certainly don't think we are over the worst yet.

“There is an ongoing problem with potholes, you can see it for yourself when you drive down the roads.”

He said that a pothole can cause tyre, wheel or even suspension damage and that it can set you back as much as £500 if the car has alloy wheels.

One of the owners of Thatcham Tyres and Exhaust, Gary Moore, said: “I've had four or five people in here since the start of the week with wheel damage caused by potholes.”

At a meeting of Greenham Parish Council last week, the issue of the quality of the repairs was also discussed.

Greenham parish councillor Diane Smith said that a large pothole had opened outside her house and that it had been quickly filled by the council, but that it opened up again shortly after.

She said that she thought such inadequate fixes were not cost-effective.

Councillor Phil Barnett agreed and said that there were a large number of new potholes appearing all across throughout the parish.

Mr Spray responded to these claims, saying: “When repairing potholes, our priority is to make the road safe.

“We continue to fix any defect reported that is deeper than 50mm within around two hours. We use different materials depending on the severity and condition of a hole to ensure the repair will hold.”

He asked residents with information on potholes to contact 01635 519080.