£360,000 to fill in potholes in Colchester and Tendring (From Gazette)

£360,000 to fill in potholes in Colchester and Tendring

10:00am Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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POTHOLES in Colchester and Tendring caused by the cold winter weather have added an extra £360,000 to highway repair bills this year.

The extra work brought the total Essex County Council had spent on minor road repairs since last April to almost £2.179million, a senior highways officer told an area forum meeting in Marks Tey.

Geoff Harris, the council’s east area highway manager, said money set aside for capital projects also might end up being diverted during the coming financial year to deal with outstanding potholes.

He explained: “There seemed to be potholes appearing from nowhere and they are still appearing from nowhere.

“What we have done is included another £360,000 towards pothole repairs over the amount we planned for.

“We are considering diverting some of our capital funding next year to a programme of major repairs. It will be a significant amount.”

Despite the severe weather which produced the potholes, there had been no increase in insurance claims from drivers with damaged cars, he added.

The council expected to get about 260 claims from Colchester and Tendring drivers by the end of this month – 101 fewer than it actually received the previous year.

Kevin Bentley, Tory county councillor for Stanway and Pyefleet, praised highways staff for their “excellent work” to repair local roads.

He said: “It’s easy to kick the highways department, but I think you have done very well.

“The work gets done very quickly. We all should say thank you.”

The meeting also heard since last April, £2.3million had been spent improving 14.7 miles of Colchester borough roads, and £2million upgrading 16.5 miles of roads in Tendring.

The total budget for highways maintenance in Colchester borough and Tendring district was £3,363,375.

This is broken down into:

Patching, potholes and minor repairs – £2,178,900

Drain cleaning and gully emptying –£246,600

Drainage repairs – £180,000

Sign and bollard replacement – £60,900

Updating road markings £109,200

Work on trees – £106,000

Weed spraying – £191,500

Grass cutting – £253,875

Replacing barriers and fences – £37,600