by Alan Quick

DEVON County Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, has hit back at Devon Liberal Democrat party claims stating that “Pothole hell continues on Devon’s roads.

Lib Dems claim that the “pot hole hell” on Devon’s roads is set to continue with news that more than a third of the roads listed for repairs this year will NOT now be done as Devon County Council slips further behind with repairs.

The party says the top priority “Pothole Action Fund” set aside £3.2 million this year to pay for 273 scheme repairing potholes and maintaining minor roads across Devon, but says figures released by County Hall show more than a third of the roads will now be left until next year for repair.

It adds that 80 schemes worth a total of £800,000 will be delayed, further irritating drivers and other road users already concerned about the state of Devon’s roads.

Devon’s Liberal Democrats are calling for more money to be spent on fixing potholes and maintaining the county’s roads and reacted with dismay to the news that long-suffering road users will now wait even longer for repairs.

Lib Dem opposition leader on Devon County Council, Cllr Alan Connett, said: “Yet again County Hall doesn’t have its eye on the ball when its comes to fixing our roads.

"Having set the programme of repairs, you would think they would be managing it so the work was done. Now we learn the Devon’s roads contractor, Skanska, is running so far behind the council says it has no option but to delay one in every three repairs.

"Potholes and the state of Devon’s roads is becoming an ever greater annoyance to drivers and all road users. I hear increasingly about tyres and wheels being wrecked by potholes and County Hall denying any responsibility.

"The Conservatives running Devon County Council are clearly not managing. It’s astonishing that so much of the money earmarked for road repairs has yet to be spent. The pothole hell will unfortunately continue.”

Across Devon, local county councillors were able to prioritise schemes on those roads in their areas for the Pothole Action Fund because they would not normally be covered due to the lack of Government funding for repairs.

Cllr Connett added: “We have all been concerned at the apparent lack of progress by the council’s new contractor and now we hear that Devon is proposing to offer them even more work before they have finished the last lot.

“I notice, for example, that work planned in Starcross and Whitestone has not been done and now it won’t be carried out until next year.

“We have to look at the monitoring of this contractor,” said Lib Dem Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, Chair of Devon’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

“We are entrusting them with a multi-million pound contract and after less than a year we find they will only be able to achieve 66 per cent of the work they have been given. 

"My committee will be asking questions about the company’s ability to ramp up their operations to ensure that Devon’s roads are safe and fit for people to go about their business.”

THERE IS NO DELAY

Cllr Stuart Hughes, said that Devon Lib Dems are incorrect explaining: "Let’s be clear – there is no delay to the repair of potholes which are safety defects and there is no change to this repair work.

"In reality, our maintenance contractor Skanska is actually delivering more than £1 million more work than originally planned in the maintenance programme because the County Council put extra funding into this financial year’s budget, specifically for rural road repairs. This work has to be completed by the end of March, and is therefore the priority.

"The Pothole Action Fund isn’t used for urgent repairs - it’s more extensive patching, surfacing and drainage improvements in order to improve the resilience of our 8,000 mile highway network.

“The Pothole Action Fund programme is also delivering over £1 million more than the previous year. Around £800,000 of this Pothole Action Fund work is being deferred for a few weeks.

“We’re committed to this work and we’d expect to see these schemes carried out in April or May rather than by the end of March."