Shropshire councillors to meet highways team six times a year over pothole crisis
Councillors in south Shropshire will meet highways managers six times a year to urge them to fix dangerous potholes at a quicker rate.
After urgent talks last Wednesday, highways managers visited Bishop's Castle to see for themselves the problems facing local residents themselves.
South West Shropshire councillors, including Ruth Houghton, Heather Kidd and Nigel Hartin, will now meet Shropshire Council's Highways team six times a year to discuss the issue of potholes on roads.
The councillors said they were receiving more reports of damage to vehicles when potholes were hit in dark or wet weather, and wanted to raise the issue with Shropshire Council.
Councillor Heather Kidd, member for Chirbury and Worthen, said potholes on the roads needs to be fixed at a quicker rate.
"We now need to have timescales for things to happen," she said. "We still have dangerous potholes waiting a week or more to be fixed. Fill times must be stuck to."
Councillor Nigel Hartin, for Clun, said: "My concern is that despite the evident work going on to recover from the disastrous situation of the mismanagement of the highways budgets over previous years, which officers told us about, we still face a seriously underfunded highways revenue budget, with insufficient staff to enable timely work on things like potholes."
The councillors have also encouraged residents to continue reporting issues and keep a record of any damage to vehicles, and submit claims to Shropshire Council.
Councillor Kidd said: "Shropshire Council has been negligent, as the contract for pothole filling is poor and it has not been implemented properly.
"I have many pictures of springs, wheels and tyres damaged. Don’t be put off when you are told it does not qualify."
Councillor Ruth Houghton added: "The meeting was a good opportunity for us to share many of the pothole problems that we are experiencing in this area everyday.
"We received assurances that services are improving, but we still need to see how this is going to be delivered on the ground, we need improvements now and a speedy response, with repairs that last."
