The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Councillor seeks solution as new road surface starts to crumble
St Andrews Labour councillor Brian Thomson is looking for a contractor to fix a rapidly deteriorating road surface in St Andrews – a little over three months after it was laid.
The proprietary surface that was laid on the western section of Hepburn Gardens in October 2016 – between the Bogward Road and Buchanan Gardens junctions – is deteriorating in a number of locations, with the old surface clearly visible, debris strewn along the gutters and some parts of the pavements, and the new road markings wearing away.
Mr Thomson explained: “After fighting to get this section of Hepburn Gardens resurfaced – along with former St Andrews community councillor Chris Wallard – I was delighted to see the works being carried out in October.
“A lack of funding is a major problem for the council at present, and whilst transportation officers did not deem the surface of the road to be bad enough to warrant the more robust and expensive ‘plane and overlay’ method that was applied to the east section of Hepburn Gardens, the proprietary surface is a tried and tested method for resurfacing roads.
“Indeed, the same type of surface was laid on Bogward Road and Canongate in 2015, and it’s still sound and looking good. As such, it’s even more surprising – and very disappointing – that the surface on the west section of Hepburn Gardens has failed so quickly.”
Mr Thomson said he has raised the matter with transportation officers, who are seeking proposals from the contractor as to how the defects can be rectified.
But he added: “My view is that it’s completely unacceptable for a new surface and road markings to fail so quickly, and it would appear that it will take more than a few patches to resolve the matter.”