Pothole Parade

[David Whipp]

The county council has been designated the lead local flood risk authority, with responsibility for investigating flooding incidents. At present, they are compiling a list of 'flood assets' (structures which form flood defences). Our culverts need to be included on the list.

During the flooding in the south, I didn't hear anything about the role of the flood risk authorities, which I found surprising.

[David Whipp]

Crownest Road last week. A succession of repairs around manhole covers in the middle of the road with the crazed surface in the foreground.

The bitmac has been replaced around a manhole on Skipton Road this week, not far from the top of Crownest Road.

[Stanley]

Keep at 'em David. (Even though according to the Tories it is they who are getting the repairs done....)

[David Whipp]

Haven't seen any evidence of Tory activity on road repairs in Barlick... nor their claims to have got them carried out.

[Stanley]

See Speaker's Corner and the latest edition of Pendle Matters.....

[David Whipp]

Surfacing defects planed out at the junction of St Mary's Avenue with Ben Lane ready for bitmac before surface dressing is carried out on the road.

[David Whipp]

Some of the areas marked out for planing on Skipton Road. In the closest one, you can see one of the county council's 'interim repairs'; looks like it really was interim!

[David Whipp]

After further representations, the county council has changed its mind about not doing repairs on Butts. Extensive areas have been marked out for planing and resurfacing on the full length from Church Street to (and including) Pennine Way.

[Stanley]

I noticed the marking out in Butts yesterday. The thing that struck me was there is so much marked out they would have made the job easier by planing and resurfacing the lot!

[PanBiker]

I still cant understand why they aren't sorting out the worst junction in town or the district probably (Skipton Rd / Fernlea Ave). A very busy junction that really needs excavating and levelling. Not a pothole as such or just a bitmac job by any means but how bad does a surface have to get before it triggers action?

[David Whipp]

The thing that struck me was there is so much marked out they would have made the job easier by planing and resurfacing the lot!

Towards the Pennine Way end, it looks like the full width of the road is being planed out for quite a length.

There must be a tipping point where it is more economical to fully resurface.

On Kirkstall Drive, full resurfacing was carried out (rather than patching). There wasn't any good surface remaining to work up to.

[David Whipp]

I still cant understand why they aren't sorting out the worst junction in town or the district probably (Skipton Rd / Fernlea Ave). A very busy junction that really needs excavating and levelling. Not a pothole as such or just a bitmac job by any means but how bad does a surface have to get before it triggers action?

It was your question about how bad does a surface have to get that prompted me to start this topic, Ian.

The county council's policy on repairs appears to be driven by the avoidance or defence of claims for injury or damage on the highway. The 'intervention level' is triggered by the apparent trip hazard. (From memory, 20mm trip on pavement; 40mm on carriageway.) Other problems with the surface seem to be of a lesser priority.

I recently emailed highways about the Skipton Road/Fernlea Avenue junction (see below). It's one of the locations I'll be visiting with senior highway managers when I meet with them soon.

Hi.

This area has been reported last year and this due to the very uneven carriageway due to deformation of the surface.

This stretch of road is very well used by pedestrians due to it being a primary pedestrian route through the town and its proximity to the town centre and local school.

Although the surface doesn’t present an abrubt trip hazard, as a pothole would, the surface undulates by up to 100mm. Several pedestrians have commented that the surface has caused them to stumble.

I think the condition of the surface at this location meets the criteria for intervention for the above reasons.

Please can appropriate action be taken.

Thanks.

David

[PanBiker]

Seems to cover all the angles David. I reckon where the junction is now would just about be where the entrance to my Uncle Bobs old workshop was in the small yard adjacent to the old railway embankment. Anyway lets see if your appeal does any good.

[Stanley]

Do the Tory 'pothole group' as trumpeted in the latest Pendle Matters ever reinforce your efforts?
As for the criteria being the trip hazard and possible claims, I'd go with that!

[David Whipp]

The Tories had control of the county council for the four years up to last May. They claimed that millions were spent on extra road repairs. If so, not much extra was spent in Barlick; last year, road conditions here looked worse than they did four years previously.

For all my criticism of the county council, I'm pleased that some longstanding issues are being sorted out (Brogden Lane and, later this year, Ghyll Lane for example).

I'm not getting much support from Pendle Tories at county hall on road repairs. One was present at the meeting where I pointed out some of the shortcomings in the way repairs were being done. He remained silent and later told a colleague that I was making too much fuss about the issue.

[Stanley]

Too much fuss eh? Allowing the infrastructure to deteriorate is worth a fuss. Go get 'em!

[David Whipp]

Some of the potholes on Ghyll Lane, October last year.

The county council said there wasn't enough traffic on the lane to make it a high priority for resurfacing. Eventually, it's been included in the programme for surfacing this year with funding from part of the highway budget at the discretion of the local county councillor. The work is due to be done late summer.

[David Whipp]

As well as pressing for effective repairs along Skipton Road, I've been waiting for some yellow lines to be put down to control the indiscriminate parking near Bankfield.

It was good to see the road marked up for extensive planing out and resurfacing recently; further good news was that the traffic regulation order went through without objection and that yellow lines could be put down whenever contractors were available.

Overcome with this surfeit of good news, I worried that the county council might carry out the work in the wrong order; resulting in bad news if the new lines were dug up in a matter of weeks and having to be redone. I emailed the county council worker who'd been pushing for the lining work to be done as a priority, pointing out the problem.

Yellow lines were put down today, but mostly missed the sections of carriageway that are to be resurfaced. One stretch has been left altogether and there's an interesting gap in another section.

[Stanley]

Interesting snippet on a TV programme on parking last night. A break in the yellow lines like that with no 'T' bars at the end used to invalidate the whole street from parking restrictions but a high court appeal has destroyed that loophole, the break does not invalidate the rest of the yellow lines.

[David Whipp]

The cunning thing in this case is that unsuspecting motorists pulling up to go into the Spar opposite will find that their car has disappeared into the humongous pothole barely concealed by the thin layer of bitmac on the surface.

[David Whipp]

This picture was emailed to me yesterday by a resident. It shows a gas reinstatement on Commercial Street which was in good nick until an inspector took a core sample. The small hole has been made bigger by kids jumping on the cone someone placed in the hole.

[Stanley]

It needs a cone to warn of the presence of the cone.... and then another cone to warn of the second cone.... and so it goes on!

[David Whipp]

A neater temporary solution than Stanley's ad infinitum suggestion; inspector from LCC called round earlier this afternoon and arranged for the problem in the pavement to be made safe with this cover. Picture by a nearby resident.

[Stanley]

What would we do without cones.... Remember John Major's Cones Hot Line and Terry Wogan's campaign?

[David Whipp]

Useful couple of hours yesterday morning with a highway's manager from county hall together with two people from the operations side (who do the day to day work on repairs).

I'm hopeful that the tour round various distressed surfaces in West Craven will result in further surfacing action.

We didn't visit Salterforth Lane near the cemetery, where LCC had said the massive potholes in the bitmac didn't meet intervention level... I checked beforehand and the work had been done. One of the operations people said it'd taken several tonnes of bitmac to fill the holes.