Companies contribute to snow repairs

An area between Toll Gavel and Wednesday Market was repaved in a £1.8m project in October 2008, but now some of the locally-sourced York stone pavers have suffered as a result of the low temperatures and heavy traffic, which East Riding Council is describing as an “unusual and unique” failure.

Although laboratory testing of the stones revealed no faults with the materials, the suppliers, Whitehall Stone Sales Ltd, has agreed to provide free replacements – a pledge that has been matched by contractors Hall Construction Ltd.

East Riding Council’s head of infrastructure and facilities Dave Waudby said: “The council has made a significant investment in this scheme and to ensure that the public get the best possible return on that investment we have had discussions with our contractor and the stone supplier to begin a programme of replacing some of the worst affected pavers during August.

“Some minor disruption is inevitable. However, as the work only involves replacing the paving slabs themselves it is a relatively swift operation and any sensitive areas, such as shop doorways, will be done out of normal business hours so as to limit disruption to traders and the public.”

Simon North, manager of Hall Special Projects, which carried out the work, said: “We have been working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council to resolve this issue and are pleased to say that in conjunction with our stone supplier, Whitehall Stone Sales, we now have a solution that is acceptable to all parties and are confident that the accelerated wear seen on some of the pavers due to the recent severe winters will not re-occur. We have also agreed to an extension of our maintenance period by an additional two years in order to monitor the performance of the replacement York stone.”