Potholes

Arkady · May 2013

Given the recent pothole banter, I thought you might be interested in this:<br><br><p style="line-height:normal;background-color:white;vertical-align:top;" class=""><font face="Calibri"><b><span style="font-size:20pt;">Labour council concedes there is a massive pothole problem following Lib Dem campaign</span></b><b><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:20pt;"></span></b></font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;background-color:white;vertical-align:top;" class=""><span><font face="Calibri"><font size="3"> </font></font></span></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">Labour run Haringey Council has admitted that there is a major problem with potholes in the Haringey following the local Lib Dem campaign to get the borough’s pothole ridden roads fixed. The admission comes after months of campaigning by the Lib Dems and a recent horrific case of a man left with brain injuries after falling over a pothole in Haringey.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">The opposition Lib Dems have repeatedly raised concerns that local roads are in a terrible state with many in need of urgent repair. They recently sent a list of 41 damaged roads to the council demanding they were repaired or resurfaced urgently. So far the council has not said whether the roads will be fixed or not.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">Now the Labour council has admitted there is a serious problem with pothole repairs and that their current policy of not fixing potholes until they are 6cm deep and leaving deeper potholes for up to a month before fixing them is failing. Neighbouring boroughs like Camden fill potholes that are half as deep (3cms). The council has now admitted in a new paper that their current policy risks further compensation claims, saying “the current (pothole) intervention levels...are at the limit of what is acceptable should the council have to defend an injury or claim.”</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">The council has suddenly decided to change these policies and try to fix more potholes. They have announced that there will be a 6 months trial of a new system of dealing with potholes with more inspections and faster repairs. Potholes will now be filled in within 7 days rather then up to 28 days after they have been inspected. Roads will also be inspected more regularly; presently 92% of local roads are only inspected once every 6 months.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">Haringey Liberal Democrats have welcomed the Labour council's sudden u-turn on potholes, which includes proposals for more inspections, lower intervention levels and quicker response times. However, Lib Dem councillors have questioned how quickly Labour will be able to tackle the large build-up of potholes caused by the current policy of ignoring many potholes and not resurfacing roads often enough.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">The changes to the repair system will be approved at a Cabinet Member Signing meeting next Monday (20th May).</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><b><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Cllr Jim Jenks, Lib Dem spokesperson for the Environment, comments:</font></font></b></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">“Finally the Labour council have admitted the error of their ways. It is a shame it has taken them so long to realise what local residents have know for a long time, that roads in the borough are in a terrible state because the council takes so long to fix potholes.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">“It is common sense that if you leave a pothole unrepaired for weeks it will get bigger, be more expensive to fix and more likely to injure someone or cause damage to cars. What is surprising is how long it has taken the council to recognise this.”</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><b><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">Cllr Richard Wilson, Lib Dem Opposition Leader, comments:</font></font></b></p> <p style="" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">“This report clearly shows the Labour council does not have a clue. How on earth can it have taken them so long to realise that repairing dangerous potholes as soon as possible is absolutely sensible?</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">“Local residents pay the 5th highest council tax in London and should have some of the best maintained roads, instead they have to use ones that are ridden with potholes and crumbling. We identified 41 roads in need of urgent repair and have been campaigning hard to get them fixed. </font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">"This is a welcome admission that the current system of ignoring potholes and hoping they go away is not working and making our roads dangerous. However I worry that the council has allowed our roads to get into such a terrible state that it will take many months before the potholes are fixed - and that is many more months of cars and bikes being damaged and residents risking injury.</font></p> <p style="line-height:normal;" class=""><font face="Calibri" size="3">"Haringey Lib Dems will press the Labour council to fix these potholes as quickly as possible.”</font></p><br>

vetski · May 2013

I noticed lots of white squares drawn around potholes on Hornsey Lane today - will be interesting to see if they've been filled in when I go along there next week.

Papa · May 2013

On the other side of the tracks Islington's roads are also shocking, Hanley Road is actually falling apart in places.<br><br>This whole farce of just allowing our roads to crumble into disarray illustrates a couple of things<br><ul><li> Years of neglect of basic infrastructure from successive governments, who have now allowed a problem to get so bad across the entire country as to be almost impossible to remedy</li></ul><ul><li> How big business has been allowed to ride roughshod over the public good - a lot of the holes are due to utility companies being allowed to patch up roads rather than fix them properly. The money they save ultimately ends up paid out as bumper dividends to shareholders</li></ul><ul><li> Our idiotic council tax system. Tax levied locally, money sent to Central Government, then dished back out, severely limiting the ability of any council that did want to do something about a problem to take quick action<br></li><li>That Britain is becoming more like a developing nation than a developed one<br></li></ul><br>And finally a fundamental misunderstanding of how to spend on infrastructure to stimulate the economy. <br><br>We get bogged down in high profile projects like High Speed Rail or new runways, which take years if not decades to accomplish and get stuck in planning disputes, when you could plough money directly into the economy by hiring some currently unemployed people to fill in the bloody dangerous holes in the roads.<br>

ActionVerb · May 2013

@PapaL - and how does filling in some pot holes on Hanley Road, which I agree are getting a little bit out of hand, will deal with the UK falling behind to airport hubs in Europe and Asia, and the trade that's lost with the Far East and South America as a result? <div><br></div><div>The problem is the length of time it takes to deal with controversial decisions, not that resources are being redirected towards large infrastructure projects (which are massive employment generators in their right anyway). <br><div><br></div><div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div>

Papa · May 2013

@ActionVerb because the economy is in need of growth now - not in five to ten years time when we finally get round to building an airport, high speed train line or any other grand design.<br><br>Getting any of those things off the ground takes time, especially in a small crowded island, where people's rights and the environment are valued highly and their merits are somewhat dubious.<br><br>You can argue all you want for the long-term economic benefits of an airport hub or shaving 20 minutes off the train journey to Birmingham, but until you start building them you are not really stimulating any part of the economy apart from the bit that deals with planning stuff and arguing about it. One day a bigger airport or a better train line might generate lots of extra employment, but it won't be this year or next.<br><br>On the other hand walk down almost any road in the country and you can find plenty of potholes that need filling in, you are unlikely to need to go through a planning inquiry to get the job done. In fact, you could employ some people and start next week if you wanted, they get paid, they spend their money, you create an immediate benefit in terms of extra employment and extra money going into the economy.<br><br><br>

vetski · May 2013

Haringey Council has 'pledged to rid the borough of potholes'!<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.haringey.gov.uk/potholes-blitz-unveiled">http://www.haringey.gov.uk/potholes-blitz-unveiled</a></div><div><br></div><div>Can report via Twitter, e-mail, the dedicated potholes page & phone: <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">020 8489 1335 (potholes hotline)</span></div>

ChangN4N6 · May 2013

This is potty! Chang

Ali · May 2013

<P>Pap L</P> <P>utility companies being allowed to patch up roads rather than fix them properly</P> <P>I belive they hav eto fix the holes thay have made and contribute to a funds which eventually resurfaces the whole road.</P> <P> </P> <P>There are planty of solutions to this <A href="http://www.tarmac.co.uk/case_studies__ideas/solution_finder/pothole_solutions.aspx?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=PotholesPPC&gclid=CPCMtaKUrLcCFZFr7Aod_wkAnw">http://www.tarmac.co.uk/case_studies__ideas/solution_finder/pothole_solutions.aspx?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=PotholesPPC&gclid=CPCMtaKUrLcCFZFr7Aod_wkAnw</A></P>;

Bigjock · May 2013

Manor Gardens off of Holloway Road is awful for Potholes.

Ali · May 2013

<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">How about having us all work for an extra half hour for free.</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">R ember this </font></div><div><a href="

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marko · May 2013

On Hornsey Lane, it's not a case of filling pot-holes - the entire road surface is completely knackered from archway bridge all the way down to Hornsey Lane. The road-humps in particular have developed pot-holes along the their edges, leaving a bicycle-wheel shaped groove in the direction of travel.<div> </div><div>Anybody know whether this is one of Islington's or Haringey's? The political boundary runs down the middle of the road. </div>

markpack · May 2013

It's amazing the state of roads that Haringey Council thinks counts as 'good'. Couldn't resist snapping the many pot holes in Cecile Park the other day (which the council says is in a good condition): <div><a href="http://www.markpack.org.uk/41299/welcome-to-cecile-park-the-road-haringey-council-claims-is-in-a-good-condition/">http://www.markpack.org.uk/41299/welcome-to-cecile-park-the-road-haringey-council-claims-is-in-a-good-condition/</a></div>;

ADGS · June 2013

<span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.03125px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“general good condition” clearly means 'more than half of the road surface, by area, is not pothole'.</span>

Arkady · June 2013

Amazing: http://www.markpack.org.uk/42033/1-photo-3-things-haringey-gets-wrong-with-potholes/<br>;

Papa · June 2013

Thames Water are currently destroying large swathes or roads in London and then shoddily patching them up. There's bits on my route to work that are already falling apart just a few months after being done - and they are currently trashing the centre of Camden. I'm hoping they don't make it to Stroud Green.<br><br>Hornsey Lane is so bad that I refuse to drive it.<br>

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