Road Surfaces in Charlbury

Mon 21 Nov 2016, 12:27

I have, for many months, and after many emails, been trying to get some action from the Highways Dept on the appalling condition of the road surface at the top of Sheep Street. I know that other streets in Charlbury have equally bad surfaces, but I have eventually received a full explanatory, if not very encouraging, reply from Councillor Rodney Rose, (who has given me permission to post his letter on the Forum).

"Dear Helen,
Thanks for your note ?" I do wish things were as simple as you state. On potholes, we have neither the staff or the money to do all defects, despite doing over 30,000 in the last year. And we are trying to improve our practices with technology, as with the use of our "Dragon patcher". Regrettably, our funding seems to diminish at a faster rate than processes improve! On that basis, we HAVE to prioritise our works, and with potholes, this is done on a safety base, and hence the depth. It does look daft for our gangs to fill two safety defects, and then drive away for one that is cosmetic, but were the gangs to do all "touch-ups" in one area, they will not get to the ones involving safety in the next road. Worse, they may remain doing non-safety defects in [say] Witney, and then not get to your street at all. As I have said, we are not able at present to do all defects, so we will continue to do what we can with what money we have, prioritising on safety ?" with nearly 3000 miles of road to look after, we have no choice.

On the question of the slurry-seal, this can be looked at in the same light as a vaccination against real illness. Once a tarmac surface becomes porous, water sinks in, and then winter "frost-lift" then destroys the structure. On this basis, we try to do a good mileage of slurry seal each summer on structurally sound roads, which can protect for up to 20 years, rather than let potholes form and lead to area repairs and complete re-making of sections of roads. And the costs of the sealing are miniscule compared to re-structuring and tarmacking.

I do realise this can be a bit annoying when the road at "the bottom of the pile" is the one we use the most, but I regret that this is the only way that we can fairly ration what works we do, and be as safe as money allows. Rodney"