Pothole near Burford traps Transport Secretary (Roads)

Tue 21 Apr, 22:05 (last edited on Tue 21 Apr, 22:09)

Amazingly detailed long read from the Oxford Clarion this week about potholes in the county. So if potholes are your thing then you should definitely check it out!:

The hole in my road is letting in water

It covers the whole pothole universe from how they come about, local government finance, types of repairs and the politics of potholes.

TL/DR: "...the equation is inescapable: more extreme weather, and more and heavier traffic, are creating more potholes at exactly the time that council budgets are under the greatest strain. It's no surprise that not every hole gets patched as quickly as we'd like."

Also, I didn't know this but apparently: "You could even volunteer to be a FixMyStreet Super User... A Super User can take reports of basic problems, measure and mark them, and forward them to the council's contractor for repair – meaning that council staff can focus on more complex ones."

Perhaps some users of this forum could volunteer?

Fri 17 Apr, 19:03

Oxfordshire was allocated £34m to tackle potholes this year. So how exactly has that money been spent? - not much evidence round our way.

Fri 17 Apr, 17:12

Nice political distraction there, Liz, by mentioning “Thames Water” and “sewerage”. The fact is, their lorries may well be contributing to the erosion of the Spelsbury Road but only because the road surface was never maintained by OCC properly in the first place (and we’re now beyond caring under whose political watch the maintenance stopped). So what’s the answer? Do nothing or delay a decision because it’s “difficult”? Sending humans to the far side of the moon and back is “difficult” but that seemed to go pretty well. Fixing a leaky well in someone’s garden isn’t. It’s frankly daft and it’s tiresome.

Fri 17 Apr, 15:04

I was in Devon & Cornwall this week and the roads were much better than here

Fri 17 Apr, 11:41

Perhaps a couple of "road failed" signs would warn drivers not familiar with this road .JohnHarrison 

Fri 17 Apr, 11:14

This is obviously badly damaged and the reason is that during the very heavy rain we were having, Thames Water was continuously pumping out sewage from the station there and the lorries eroded the road surface.  There is also a problem with water running off private land up the road, and until that has been resolved it is difficult to make any lasting improvements. 

Fri 17 Apr, 10:28

That's all well and good, thankyou Liz; however, is anything being done, or likely to be done, about the condition of the road between Charlbury and Spelsbury? Despite numerous things on the FixMyStreet page indicating 'under investigation', nothing has been done and at one point the road is seriously breaking up; it's a bus route and a busy road...

Fri 17 Apr, 10:10

I asked an officer to take a look at the potholes by the Chilson turn and they went to do that yesterday and will repair them today

Fri 17 Apr, 10:04

Would it be easier and simpler to register and log the good parts of a road 

Fri 17 Apr, 09:59

John, I reported the ones by the Chilson turning, weeks ago on “Fix my Street”, which clearly doesn’t work very effectively as a system of reporting. All that’s been done, is about two of the many pot holes have been painted for repair, which will then leave numerous unfixed pot holes nearby. Similar situation as in pot hole boulevard by Ascott Station. 

Fri 17 Apr, 09:56

I reported this Chilson pothole weeks ago. I drive the road practically every day and yesterday the pothole had red markings around it… coincidence….
🤔

Fri 17 Apr, 09:45

I read that it was on the B4437 and wondered if it was the long standing (wrong word?) one by the Chilson turn. Speculation...

Thu 16 Apr, 12:58

Schadenfreude! 😂🤣

Thu 16 Apr, 11:54

Wonder if she will write to the local Council to complain??? And of course claim reparations??

Thu 16 Apr, 10:28

It would be hard to make that one up!

Thu 16 Apr, 10:16

The transport secretary's car struck a pothole and had to be towed away:

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/transport-secretary-potholes-aa-oxfordshire-8vqxk5m6d