[seanjd]

Doesn't everything come down to cold hard cash

Or a lack of it, in the case of the local councils. I am appalled at the standard of the road surfaces and have never seen so many roads in such a poor state.

Let's hope the increase in council tax will cover this

I blame the government for this decline

[rikur_]

The situation around our area is 'cold hard cash'

In our area there are relatively few trunk roads that are maintained by Highways England (these are generally ok), but the vast majority are maintained by the County Council. County Council budgets have been squeezed from multiple angles, and various pots like education are ring-fenced, or have limited scope for discretionary cuts. As such highways spending has been hit by far the hardest.

In our area the consequence is that both the criteria for a repair, and the nature of the repair have been scaled back. Roads that 4 years ago would have qualified for pro-active resurfacing, now just get cold spot repairs - which as others have pointed out, don't last - but simply tick the box that the Council has reacted to the report of a dangerous condition.

We often get complaints about the Council wasting money on enhancement schemes when they can't repair the basics - but in practice most enhancements come from central government grants or capital funding, so it's not a simple case of money that could be reallocated to repairs.

In our local area, the past 9 months seems to have been particularly harsh on the roads - I think medium term weather patterns and resultant minor ground movement from drying/swelling is probably to blame.

[mick w]

The last time I was in Blackburn , I counted four thousand !!.

[Mr Bags]

The last time I was in Blackburn , I counted four thousand !!.

Blimey, that's almost enough to fill the Albert Hall

[Flyin'Dutch']

Btw, what were our roads like in the 50’s I wonder?

Until 1959 they were just trunk and local roads - first Motorway in the UK opened 1959.

Motorways in the UK are lovely but too congested.

In Germany too many are just two lanes wide and they are constantly worked on.

They also have a massive problem with their bridges, the maximum load of lorries here is 50 metric tons and they further know that traffic has intensified a lot since they were designed and constructed.

The Germans blame the EU for its lax regulations on road transport......

Actually they don't; they get on fixing them paying for it from their budgetary surplus.

[Robin500]

So, on a local basis, ie minor roads, estate roads etc, is the repair of potholes and the like funded by Council tax?

[Flyin'Dutch']

So, on a local basis, ie minor roads, estate roads etc, is the repair of potholes and the like funded by Council tax?

In the UK?

Yes-

[rikur_]

So, on a local basis, ie minor roads, estate roads etc, is the repair of potholes and the like funded by Council tax?

Generally yes - with a little bit of top-up from central Government occasionally .... e.g. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gove ... o-councils . Some Councils are more proactive than others at claiming a slice of central Government funding.

[Leodisflyer]

.

[GAFlyer4Fun]

I'm sure I heard somewhere that many councils had got rid of their roads inspectors, so noone now checks the quality when workmen finish.

Have heard (indirectly) the council in this area are not happy with the standard of repairs but their hands are tied by contract. Some repairs/resurfacing is done to a very good standard but some is very poor. I dont know if the variation is due to different companies/contractors/utilities or if some crews take more pride in doing it right first time rather than playing a metrics game of quantity over quality.

In any case Highways/councils need (or should use) the power to make whoever is responsible for sub-standard road repairs to do them again free of charge to Highways/councils and tax payers, as many times as it takes to get it right to last a year from the most recent attempt.

[johnm]

Road inspectors have now become “commissioning engineers” their job is supposed to be managing the outsource contractor. They (allegedly) set priorities and control quality to the standards set in the contract, so we’re back to minimum compliance and cash budgets year on year............

[Robin500]

In our County all road repairs/resurfacing is done by the company, Tarmac. Generally they're pretty good and for most of the year if one reports a pothole via the Councils website, it is repaired fairly promptly, except between January and the start of the new financial year.

However, getting overhanging tree branches and hedges cut on certain roads is near to impossible, no one it seems will accept responsibility .

[rikur_]

However, getting overhanging tree branches and hedges cut on certain roads is near to impossible, no one it seems will accept responsibility .

Overhanging trees/hedges are usually the responsibility of the tree/hedge owner to maintain. Section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on a highway authority (e.g. county council) to prevent obstruction of the highway and section 154 give them the right to instruct landowners that overhanging trees/hedges are cut back.
The highways authority (e.g. county council) can eventually cut them back themselves and seek to recover the cost from the tree/hedge owner. The highways act doesn't define what is acceptable overhang/encroachment - but accepted practice is 7'6" above pedestrian areas, and 17' above vehicle areas.

Edit: We had one rather amusing episode as a Parish Council where we had a strongly worded letter complaining about overhanging hedges obstructing an area of pavement. We had a look at it and agreed, so got the County Council to send their standard letter requesting they be cut back to the resident of the property concerned ..... which turned out to be the original complainant!

[Kittyhawk]

The EU blithely increasing the weight limit for HGVs thus causing greater wear and tear over shorter periods and our government not taking steps to mitigate the problem by blindly accepting the increased weight limits saying they have no powers to say 'No'.
Let's get out asap.

So HGVs have got heavier and as we all know, Wagon Wheels have got smaller. That must be it..

[Flyingfemme]

All motors are bigger, heavier, faster now. Wheels are wider and tyres are grippier. And everyone has power steering and can scrub up chunks of tarmac all over the place.