Road hazards to be repaired in hours

URGENT road repairs should be carried out in less than four hours in the future under new rules approved by Perth and Kinross Council.

The enterprise and infrastructure committee agreed the new measures, which will set deadlines for repairs based on how much danger there is to road users.

A report drawn up by Stuart D’All, deputy manager for the roads maintenance partnership in Perth and Kinross, said the local authority had to repair 10,207 road “defects” in the 2016/17 financial year and about 5% of these required a repeat visit.

As a result, he suggested to the committee the council should move to a “first-time” permanent repair policy.

The local authority will spend about £500,000 on the revised roads network programme, which will include repairing potholes and verge cutting.

Mr D’All said: “For category one repairs, which are classed as an immediate and critical hazard to road users, we propose these are made safe immediately or within four hours.

“Category two, regarded as a medium level of hazard, will be repaired within five working days and category three, classed as low risk, will be repaired within 30 working days.

“This policy will mean more effective planning for firsttime permanent repairs to potholes and other road safety defects.”