Councillor blasts contractor over pothole work

Councillor Phil Burke, Rochdale Borough Council's transport representative, has blasted the council’s private contractor for its ‘appalling’ record on fixing potholes.

Councillor Burke called for the authority to consider bringing the highways contract back in-house, after savaging Balfour Beatty’s performance in relation to patching up roads and clearing gulleys.

His uncompromising comments came during a discussion of a highways study group report at a scrutiny committee meeting.

He said: “I think it’s appalling, the service we get from the contractors.

“I don’t know if the materials are not being used correctly, or they’re not using the correct materials or not digging them out correctly, but time and time again, they are are coming to the same holes.

“It’s just disgraceful; time and time again, members have serious concerns over the conduct of these people.”

Balfour Beatty – a giant of the infrastructure sector – says it works closely with the council to ensure repairs are carried out safely, and with minimal disruption to the public.

But Councillor Burke continued: “Enough is enough, we need to take it back in-house and say let’s do it ourselves. We can do a proper job and probably spend less money. I fully understand it needed to go out. But the turnaround of having potholes filled and refilled, when will it stop?”

Committee chairman Councillor Daniel Meredith told the meeting the highways study group were ‘generally happy’ with the highways contract work, but had some concerns over potholes not being filled during the required time.

These included ‘multiple concerns’ over the time it was taking from spray-painting around a pothole to fixing it.

Council safety inspectors are responsible for identifying a pothole, marking it up with spray paint and ordering the repair with Balfour Beatty.

Council statistics show that, over the 2018/19 financial year to date, the authority has ordered 9,305 repairs with a 20 working day priority.

Of these 56% have been completed on time, with nearly 10% completed more than 15 days late.

He also said that the fact only 52% of gulleys being cleared within 10 days of a report was ‘alarming’.

It was another point picked up by Councillor Burke, who described it as ‘one of the poorest percentages I have ever heard’.

He said: “We need to monitor and pull them up on a month-to-month basis, and if they’re not improving, get rid.

“We shouldn’t be messing around with these people. We’re paying a lot of money to get the work done. They’re not delivering on time and not delivering the service we expect from them.”

Alan Webster, highways team leader at Rochdale Council, told the meeting that any potholes that need repairing again within two years are done at the contractor’s own expense.

Councillor Neil Emmott, cabinet member for the environment said this did not fully resolve the problem.

“We can talk about charging people at their own expense, but we are in the business of delivering a bespoke service to the council taxpayers of this borough and they expect us to do a good job on our behalf.

“They are not bothered about who contracts it, they pay their council tax and expect us to sort out issues regarding highways to a suitable standard. And if people see we are not necessarily doing that and occasionally failing on potholes there are questions to be asked.”

In a similar vein, both Labour’s Councillor Peter Williams and Conservative Councillor Peter Winkler said they were concerned about ‘reputational damage’ to the council, as a result of repeat pothole repairs.

Councillor Winkler called for this to be taken into account when the highways contract expires in 2020.

A Balfour Beatty spokesperson said: “In accordance with the Highways Maintenance Plan, regular road inspections are carried out with over 12,000 potholes and other highways defects in Rochdale repaired every year.

“We are working closely with Rochdale Borough Council to ensure that any outstanding pothole repairs and gulley cleaning are completed safely by our team of experienced professionals, at minimal disruption to the local community and the travelling public.”

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter