State of roads and car parks is 'bordering on the criminal'

002130acdd77c95f3cc76cec7e8adf75

Parish councillors agreed at this week's meeting that the state of the roads in the village and the number of potholes is an absolute disgrace.

Cllr Melanie Connor also raised concerns about whether the Council is taking any notice of their online system for reporting potholes and pointed out that the roads in areas such as Sandbach and Crewe, where Cheshire East Council has offices, are considerably better than in Alderley Edge.

She said "You can go on to Cheshire Highways website and report potholes in your areas but I am convinced its not being looked at by anyone in Cheshire East. I am very worried about the whole process.

"For example, they were supposed to come along and look at the situation at the bottom of Windermere Drive and Chorley Hall Lane. Apparently two men turned up, looked angry, sat in the van for two hours and drove off and that was it - and they haven't been back."

Speaking to Cllr Frank Keegan, Cllr Connor said "You drive to Sandbach once a week at least, you must know that the road from Holmes Chapel to Chelford looks as though a bomb has been dropped around Goostrey. Funnily enough a little one (pothole) appeared in Sandwich last week and it was filled in today.

"We used to laugh when this happened in Macclesfield but I can see it is happening in Sandbach and Crewe and surrounding areas. There is a point where you come just through Holmes Chapel and the whole of the road system changes and the nearer you get to Alderley the worse it gets and the streets of Alderley are ten times as worse as the streets of Sandbach and I think it is a disgrace.

"As our councillor I would like you go to Highways and tell them it is not good enough. You can put all you like on the website telling them to put in their potholes and their streets but it means nothing if you don't fill them in."

Cllr Melanie Connor added "The problem is Highways will tell you they can't do it because they can't afford it - instead of just putting temporary fillers in they need to do it properly.

"Whole stretches of road need to be redone. It must cost more in the long run to keep doing a risk assessment for every little whole, as I am sure they do a risk assessment for every little whole, time and time and time again."

Cllr Keegan responded "According to the latest information the potholes cost £22, at least that's what I assume if they filled 46,000 potholes for a £1 million that works out about £22, whereas if you take Stamford Road, that was done a year or two back, that stretch cost £8000. So that's an awful lot more than £22."

Cllr Mary Maczkowiak commented "There's a similar stretch on the estate. I joke about it and say we are down to the stone but we're actually down to the original Victorian road, the tarmac has completely gone in places. It keeps getting reported and basically nothing's ever done so I would really appreciate for the residents there... It's really about time, we pay enough money."

Cllr Melanie Connor added "The two car parks look like they've been bombed."

Cllr Mary Maczkowiak responded "I thought I'd lost a wheel in the car park at the back, my whole wheel went into the puddle."

Cllr Keegan commented "This is one of the issues which is absolutely bordering on the criminal because all the parking fines that are raised are meant to be for road issues and the tarmac and car parks, at the very least ought to be maintained to a satisfactory level. This one at the park and South Street are a disgrace."

Cheshire East Council announced a war on potholes last month, which will be boosted by a £25 million cash investment over the next two years.

The Council has repaired more than 46,000 potholes since April 1st 2012, at a cost of £1 million and now aims to fix another 42,000 by the end of this summer.

Speaking about the additional funds, Cllr Nigel Schofield commented "We need to put our bids in quickly."

Tags:
Cheshire East Council, Parish Council, Potholes
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Sarah Lane
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 4:13 pm
Phone them instead. I gave up with the online reporting so phoned and my complaint was repaired (badly) the next day. If they tell you to do it online just say you don't have the Internet.
Ian Miller
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 5:16 pm
Just over a week ago two men arrived to repair a large pothole on the railway bridge on Chorley Hall Lane. This is the same pothole that has been repaired countless times before and each time the tarmac repair has broken away within a couple of weeks. They "repaired" the pothole with a large lump of tarmac which will break away again within the next two or three weeks as usual and left all the broken tennis ball sized lumps of tarmac from the last repair lying in the gutter for cars to drive over. They also left a much larger piece of broken tarmac about 8 inches square lying on the pavement and then drove off. This large lump now appears to have found its way down onto to the railway embankment. What chance is there of proper road repairs if this is the standard that is accepted by East Cheshire council.
Marc Asquith
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 5:58 pm
How much longer before a Portfolio holder finally realises that patching potholes is a short term solution and essentially a waste of money - we need proper resurfacing when the surface begins to break up. Chorley Hall Lane is a classic example.
Sarah Lane
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 6:27 pm
The repairs are as bad as the condition of the roads. All so wrong. The repair that took place to the road I reported are already breaking up. The roads everywhere are shocking. No good trying to pretend otherwise.
Lesley Broome
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 6:58 pm
Where is our council tax money going if they can't repair roads, maintain general upkeep, answer emails with competent staff etc etc. The only thing that seems to work are the bin collections, bang on without fail, well done guys!
Karen Robinson
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 8:14 pm
1. Strip Davey lane back down to the cobbles!
2. Start sending the repair bills to the building contractors and their wagons, on the roads that have been damaged i.e Heyes lane (outside what was the Royal Oak) Top half of Trafford Road.
Blot on the landscape houses with great big potholes at their front doors!
Philip Warne
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 8:47 pm
Try contacting FillThatHole.org.uk

You give a description, post code etc. and they send a team round to
repair.
James MacDonald
Tuesday 12th February 2013 at 10:27 pm
It is bad enough trying to drive on these roads, but try cycling on them on a road bike with narrow tyres, it is lethal. Do we have to wait for a serious injury or fatality before they take it seriously?
Lesley Broome
Thursday 14th February 2013 at 4:54 pm
Probably.. usually the case in this country
Peter Liddle
Friday 15th February 2013 at 5:27 pm
I have reported the disgraceful state of Chorley Hall Lane may times and nothing of any real use has been done. The entire road surface needs to be replaced as dodging the potholes is dangerous and will surely lead to compensation claims to the Council either from injuries or damage to vehicles. Have they no foresight?!
Marina McHugh
Sunday 17th February 2013 at 1:09 pm
All the roads in this village are in a state of disrepair. Also, the pavements are not much better and the litter, wet leaves, overgrown hedges make walking very hazardous. The village is a mess!
Karen Robinson
Friday 22nd February 2013 at 3:09 pm
Think we need to change our village name to Prestbury seen as they are being re-surfaced again! What have they got that we haven't???
David Hadfield
Friday 22nd March 2013 at 9:40 am
Totally fed up with potholes and disgraceful roads in Cheshire.
From today, I am cancelling my Monthly Council Tax Standing Order and will see them in Court.
So far, they have taken my money every month but they have not agreed to their part of the deal ..... namely, they have not repaired the roads as they are supposed to ?
If everyone did this, it would concentrate their minds ............
(it would also lead to confusion, but, so what.......... LET HAVE A FIGHT WITH THE COUNCIL) ?
Marina McHugh
Friday 22nd March 2013 at 11:29 am
Withdrawing the Council Tax would cause a stir and could be useful providing a significant number of people were to do the same. All those in favour ...
Jon Williams
Friday 22nd March 2013 at 11:41 am
I have just reported three potholes this morning - get reporting:
http://bit.ly/6K8cLg
Stewart Dyer
Friday 22nd March 2013 at 3:00 pm
Jon. many thanks for posting that link. That looks like a great tool to help us, and simple to use. I will be out looking for potholes to report ASAP. Not that they are difficult to find, just that I want to be sure I get it right!!