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Question from: County Councillor Jeremy Brignell-Thorp Subject: Temporary pothole repairs
Question:
Repairing potholes is a major challenge for the council at present. To cope with the high number of potholes being reported at present, the practice seems to be to do a temporary repair which will later be revisited to make a more permanent repair. Many of the temporary repairs only seem to last a few weeks before breaking up again.
Could you let me know what the relative costs are of doing a temporary repair, versus doing a more permanent repair, and how long the temporary repairs are expected to last.
My residents are concerned that making temporary repairs may save money in the immediate term, but will end up costing much more in the long term.
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
Please see below answers to your questions raised around temporary pothole repairs. I have attempted to explain the reason why there are a lot of temporary repairs undertaken and the need to reduce the risk of liability against the authority.
We are currently addressing members concerns about potholes and temporary maintenance as well as providing information which you can share with residents in a Member Development session. This is planned for April as we are acutely aware of concern for many members right now.
When carrying out temporary pothole repairs there are varying contributing factors but ultimately it is to remove the defect highlighted to try and avoid damage to vehicles, accidents and claims being made against the local authority. This is the temporary measure.
A lot of the repairs involve plugging the defect as a holding repair within the timeline set as per the categorisation of the carriageway, thus removing the pothole. This is a temporary measure to allow programmed repairs to be undertaken when resource / budget allows.
When undertaking holding pothole repairs, we recommend they should be cleaned out, tack coat or spray emulsion added to at least the vertical sides and the material compacted using a vibratory tool. Some pothole repairs with the potential of causing immediate harm will be compacted with a hand rammer due to the circumstances detected. If you are worried this is not happening, then any information you have will be useful to ensure that the correct process is undertaken.
The relative costs for carrying out a temporary repair, versus doing a more permanent repair takes in many contributing factors, resource of staff, budgetary pressures, capital funding, inclement weather, etc. As mentioned above, carrying out these repairs, be it temporary or permanent, must be undertaken within the timescale allowed and within the defect priority response times. Powys County Council must comply with the specifications against the categorisation of the carriageway they are identified on.
We are unable to provide a breakdown of cost here, but should you wish to understand or need further assurance of value for money then I am sure we can build that into the Member Development later in April. I do not imagine you are the only Councillor wanting answers to these questions.
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