The road to Spelsbury

Mon 31 Dec 2012, 14:50

Dreadful----I agree. Also a smallish but deep and nasty pot hole outside the Corner House and the Rose----catches you as you come round the corner. I seem to remember that it was mended last year---so perhaps that's another one that hasn't lasted long !

Mon 31 Dec 2012, 12:37

Failed council - failed road.

My previous post some months ago about the B4026 covered much the same ground. OCC have stated that the temporary patching is pending more extensive works in FY2013/14 "finances permitting". Well the finances will need to permit pretty soon otherwise the potholes will be so big as to preclude an ambulance from travelling safely along that road.

We may value the welfare state and a benefits system; international aid is a little more controversial, but having a safe road surface to travel along is pretty fundamental and will not be cured by "The Big Society". Maybe the pasty tax, Starbucks and Amazon will come to our MP's rescue?

Fri 21 Dec 2012, 11:19

There was a considerable amount of water coming onto the road in the time leading up to the repair and as you say the firm (outsourced I believe) did the repair regardless. Perhaps a spring, perhaps water draining onto the road, perhaps both.
However last week there was some work being done on the South West side of the road to help drain the road. It's better than it was but still not great and when it freezes it can be nasty. And of course, as Simon says, the potholes are getting worse again. However I understand Roger Clarke (our Town Clerk) is very aware of the situation and doing his best to get it sorted.

Thu 20 Dec 2012, 15:01

Sorry to disappoint but this isn't about a long-lost film starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

If my memory serves me right, our County Council closed the road between Charlbury and Spelsbury for a week or so earlier this year, so that the potholes could be repaired and the areas of worst damage resurfaced. One of the things that any highways engineer worth his or her salt should know is that roadways and water don't mix. As soon as vehicles run over a stretch of roadway that is persistently wet, the surface starts to break up.

Surprise, surprise - with it being so wet over the past few weeks, the potholes on the hill down to the brook have started re-appearing at an alarming rate, and before too long it will be just as bad as it was before the County Council spent however much it cost to do a fudged job.

Here's hoping that the folk at the highways department revisit the problem sooner rather than later and do a proper job of fixing the road there this time - after all of the water from the fields on either side has been diverted away from flowing all over the road.