Council rejects calls to use JCB pothole fixer

Argyll and Bute Council has rejected calls to buy or lease a machine that can reportedly fix a pothole in eight minutes for as little as £30.

Construction firm JCB’s Pothole Pro is three-in-one machine capable of cropping, cutting and cleaning the repair from potholes in one go, with no need for additional specialist equipment.

The company claims it is designed to efficiently, economically and permanently repair potholes that could take hours and cost more than double to fix using traditional methods.

With 50 per cent of councils across the UK reportedly now owning, leasing or having access to a JCB Pothole Pro, East Kintyre Community Council and several members of the public have called on Argyll and Bute Council to consider using one to tackle the area’s pothole problems.

Councillor Tommy Macpherson put their comments to the council and was told the authority undertook a trial of the machine in April 2021 but there was no decision to purchase or lease one.

He was told that the jetpatcher machines the council currently operates are more suited to the area’s roads network for the following reasons:

▮ The JCB machine requires a crew of at least five to carry out road repairs versus a single person operation for many settings (increased where traffic management is required);

▮ The excavation methods required with the JCB machine resulted in a number of periphery cracks in the road surface on roads which are founded on soft ground and where the thickness of bound material is limited – this applies to much of Argyll and Bute’s network; ▮ The jetpatcher deploys a technique which seals hairline cracks, effectively allowing a stitch in time right first-time fix to be applied.

Councillor Macpherson said: “Presently, Kilmory’s [council headquarters] pothole blackhole sits at around £120 million. Knowing now that over 50 per cent of British councils have access to the Pothole Pro, the disintegrated state of Argyll’s carriageways, and the roads department’s repeated lamentations, I do question senior management’s decision to discount the Pothole Pro.”

The Courier asked the council if it would reconsider using the JCB Pothole Pro machine.

A spokesperson said: “Our roads and infrastructure service received an extra £8 million in this year’s budget, bringing the total for road repair and maintenance over the next two years to £16m.

“Included in this multi-million pound capital investment is the purchase of a new jetpatcher to support delivery of programme.”