A resident frustrated by the “diabolical” state of potholes on his road has received a personal assurance from Redbridge Council’s leader that it will be fixed soon.
David Martin, of Hanover Gardens, attended a cabinet meeting on 12th April to urge council leaders to resurface his road for the first time since 1985.
He told councillors there are “many holes” and more than 250 repair patches on the road.
He added: “In 2014 a council officer agreed to resurface the road on the bend as they considered it to be dangerous – this was not carried out.”
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At the meeting, council leader Cllr Jas Athwal said he remembered David emailing to ask for the road to be resurfaced in 2020.
Explaining the delay, he added: “We have the full plan but the problem is that assessments of the roads are prioritised in an order.
“I think things get prioritised and put in certain orders, then things can be reprioritised because roads don’t deteriorate in a consistent manner.
“With that in mind, I will take a look at it and perhaps meet you there tomorrow for a proper inspection to make sure we can get to the bottom of it, because this has been going on for a long time.
“There are other places as well, as you can imagine the council is really strapped for cash, but if this is a public health risk we need to reprioritise.”
David later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Cllr Athwal did come to visit two days later and said the council leader hoped the road would be resurfaced this summer.
When contacted for comment on his visit, Cllr Athwal said: “I visited and asked officers to audit the list of streets that are on the work program as some deteriorate faster than others.”
The day David attended the cabinet meeting Redbridge’s cabinet agreed a £1.5million road resurfacing programme.
Roads needing repairs will be prioritised using a scoring system based on reports from the council’s highways management team and safety inspections.
A report on the resurfacing said: “With demands on removal of potholes, initial priorities will be given to repairing carriageway defects and accommodation works carried out to the footways in preparation for resurfacing.
“142 Roads were identified for resurfacing treatment and to treat them all would cost £11.6m.”
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