A move to declare an emergency over the state of Gloucestershire’s roads will be debated today.
Liberal Democrat councillors are calling on highways chiefs to form a cross party working group to figure out how to respond to the situation.
They have tabled a motion for the council meeting at Shire Hall to formally declare that the county now faces a “roads emergency”.
They also want to write to transport secretary and Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper calling ont the Government to provide a one off lump sum of cash to help councils clear the backlog of highway repairs.
The motion also calls for an urgent review of Gloucestershire County Council’s strategy on pothole repairs, where one pothole is repaired and others ignored, and devise a strategy to maximise efficiency.
They also want to look into the policy on how repairs and work by utilities companies are inspected to make it fit for purpose and help our residents avoid unnecessary disruption.
A more proactive approach to enforcement and issuing fines to utility firms when they don’t meet the standards expected of them. They also want more power to be delegated to local highway managers and give them the necessary resources to fix issues more quickly.
The proposals look set to be amended by the ruling Conservative administration who also want better roads.
They say more than 10,000 potholes have been filled since April this year and they have a programme to resurface more roads than ever this summer.
Highways cabinet member Dom Morris (C, Fairford and Lechlade on Thames) says the council is also setting up “find and fix gangs” which will repair potholes earlier and can do up to 100 in a day.
He said: “We all want better roads, which is why we are delivering on our manifesto promise to achieve just that with our £100 million investment.
“We have set up the highways transformation programme, which is implementing changes to the way we deliver services including introducing ‘find and fix gangs’ to fix potholes earlier, spray injection patching which can fill up to 100 potholes in a day, and trialling innovative new materials to speed up repairs and help them last longer in bad weather.
“Since April we’ve filled over 10,000 potholes and this summer we will be resurfacing more roads than ever before – 170 in total for this year. Conservative ideas and investment is what will deliver results for our residents’.”
