Pothole repairs to take longer
New timescales for ‘right first time’work
New target times for repairing potholes across Perth and Kinross were rubber-stamped this week.
Perth and Kinross Council’s environment, enterprise and infrastructure committee agreed to introduce new timescales at a meeting on Wednesday by eight votes to six.
Under the new targets, ‘category one’ roads will continue to be repaired within four hours.
However, ‘category two’ roads will now be repaired within five working days, rather than the previous limit of 24 hours.
Similarly, ‘category three’ roads will be repaired within 30 days rather seven days, and sightings on ‘category four’ roads will only be recorded for insurance purposes rather than being repaired within 28 days.
The local authority’s administration claims the idea behind these extended timescales is to increase the number of “right first time” repairs, in the hope of a reduction in further repairs saving around £26,000 a year.
The proposals were criticised by the SNP opposition at the meeting.
SNP Cllr Dave Doogan said: “This is not a great report and not good news for the people of Perth and Kinross. Increasing ‘category two’ repairs to five days doesn’t seem to me to be acceptable, and won’t be to the public.”
Cllr Grant Laing, also SNP, questioned the money available for this after the council’s leader, Cllr Ian Campbell, was heard on national radio earlier in the day saying a one-off £500,000 had been set aside for pothole repairs.
The council’s environment director Barbara Renton confirmed £370,000 was earmarked for pothole repairs – with the remaining £130,000 to to be used for general roads maintenance.
Cllr Laing also questioned whether the move was worth the saving of only £26,000, which will be reinvested in road maintenance.
This caused a war of words between the two SNP councillors and Lib Dem Cllr Willie Robertson.
The latter, a member for Kinrossshire, said: “I can’t believe what I have been listening to. The SNP are prepared to spend £26,000 on repairs when we have heard they don’t work.
“Nothing frustrates constituents more than when pothole repairs fall out after two days,” adding the two councillors should try repairing the potholes themselves.
The SNP proposed an amendment to see ‘category two’ roads repaired in three days rather than five, with ‘category three’ given a timescale of 10 days rather than 30, and ‘category four’ given a limit of 60 days.
The amendment was rejected by the administration, with committee convener Cllr Colin Stewart moving the motion, which was seconded by the new Conservative deputy leader Cllr Murray Lyle.