A new direction

IT is a perennial problem – utility companies failing to properly patch up those roads that they have dug up to repair pipes and such like. The response from motorists, and those local authorities left picking up the pieces, has also been a recurring one. Something must be done.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Apr 2011, 07:00 BST

The challenge, however, has been finding a satisfactory solution as councils see their budgets squeezed and road budgets compromised by the cost of pot hole repairs.

In this regard, the suggestion put forward by Peter Box, the leader of Wakefield Council, is a common sense approach that should be given the green light. Councils, he says, should be given greater powers to ensure roadworks are timed – where possible – to cause minimum disruption, and for utilities to pay a bond in advance of any work being undertaken. If the road is not returned to a satisfactory standard, they forgo the money. End of story. Given the scheme’s simplicity, and the onus on the utility firms to complete repairs to a high standard in the first instance, who can argue with the logic shown by a Yorkshire councillor prepared to think outside the box?

Wakefield Council Yorkshire