Road re-surfacing at Fiveways

Fri 31 May 2019, 19:53

OCC patching before the OVO Women's Tour of Britain cycle race? More than the men got last year!

If the route posted elsewhere on this website is anything to go by, is this a well organised mass attempt at cycling up Market Street in the WRONG direction? ;-)

Mon 27 May 2019, 09:18

The work at Fiveways was done without any notification to me as the county councillor and if I had been asked about it I would have prioritised several other roads in Charlbury, but the way that work is allocated is still a mystery to me even after two years of trying to get a schedule organised for my area.

Skanska is the contractor that OCC uses for all road repairs. To be fair, what they have done at Fiveways will be useful as this is the main road through the town and the surface has been very poor for some time. I have made sure that the roads through the centre of the town are on the list for resurfacing - they will be done but I don't know when. And I would love to think we could review Skanska's contract but apparently it was renewed a few years ago and has some time to run.

Sun 26 May 2019, 14:51

Yes Philip, the dragon patcher which was plonked outside my cottage for hours.  Sanska?

John, I agree, I really can't notice any difference, apart from the banana skin, oily rag, and fag stubs.

Whilst not an expert they seem to have raised the level of the road.

They are most welcome, as long as they behave reasonably.  I might even make them cups of tea, provide an ashtray, and show them where they can stick their oily rags and luncheon leftovers.

Not knowing about such things I wonder if they have to hang around until they are given permission to leave.

I've been trying to find a Schedule of forthcoming work on the OCC website but have failed.  It all seems rather random. 

I must say that, when interrogated, they were pleasant enough.  Not a job I'd want.

Sun 26 May 2019, 10:50

Well the resurfacing doesn't seem complete to me - there is still a depression felt when driving on the 'new' work towards Woodstock, just before you turn right towards Witney...Maybe they'll return, Hannen, and take advantage of your hospitality again?   

Sun 26 May 2019, 10:49

Was this the team with the orange "Dragon Patcher"? Contracted to Oxfordshire CC.

Sprays bitumen, spreads chippings but doesn't really tackle potholes.

What decorators might term "papering over the cracks", but better than nothing I suppose!

Sat 25 May 2019, 17:15

 Claire. Good point. Lol. 

Sat 25 May 2019, 09:40

On the bright side, they were reducing their climate impact by sending the banana skin to composting, rather than to create methane rotting in landfill?

Sat 25 May 2019, 08:28

Almost certainly not 'council employees'? Isn't all this work put out to tender? The cheapest tender wins, so the work is often poor. But not a.ways.

I believe Ditchley Road gets a re-surface soon. Just the Slade end. The rest was well done a few months ago

Fri 24 May 2019, 22:38 (last edited on Fri 24 May 2019, 22:51)

Hannen, I passed the site around 8.20 this morning and there was no sign of work going on at that time.. All there was to be seen was the large patch of newly re-surfaced road with plenty of tar and stone chippings in evidence - half of which I carried along Woodstock Road. It appeared to be a cheap, unfinished job, doubtless carried out at considerable cost. There was no sign of men or machinery then, so I guess they were out of my sight, around the corner making a nuisance of themselves outside your house.

Fri 24 May 2019, 21:12

It's a good bin, to be fair. 

Fri 24 May 2019, 18:55

Paul, yes!

It's best to go round 5 ways with your eyes closed.  Too scary.

I just don't understand why council employees are paid to do nothing.  That's my point.

The re-surfacing was completed by 10.00 am at the latest, so what were they doing from then until 12.30 pm, apart from smoking, chatting, trespassing, and shoving leftovers in my bin? 

Hannen.

Fri 24 May 2019, 18:16

So you have been lucky enough to miss the massive pot holes when going around 5 ways with your eyes closed lol

Fri 24 May 2019, 18:12

Can anyone explain to me why OCC have just re-surfaced Fiveways, as it did Hixet Wood not so long ago?  Neither of which, to my untutored eye required it.

Perhaps they can also explain to me why work started, without notice at 7.30 am, and why the "operatives" stood around chatting outside my house for hours (literally), and why they threw a banana skin into my food waste bin (they had to trespass to do that) when there is the litter bin (which I empty) just a few feet away, and why they have left an oily rag and cigarette stubs outside my house?  Guess who'll be sweeping them up?

Who organises the scheduling?  Who supervises?  I wish I could find a job standing around doing nothing and chatting to my friends for hours.

Both I and my Wife on two separate occasion went outside to ask them why but they just shrugged their shoulders and explained that they would be gone soon.

Who pays for this? 

I've heard of the phrase "just passing the time of day".  Now I truly understand its meaning.