Nigel Hartin, Shropshire Councillor for Clun Division, is urging residents to claim for damages from the Council after a spate of incidents involving poor repairs by Council contractors.
Nigel said: “There is still a big backlog of repairs to potholes to be done right across the County with a great many still to be repaired in the Clun area. What is worse, many of those repairs already done are of a lamentable bad quality. I have a number of complaints of newly repaired holes being washed away.
“A classic instance involves my son Jolyon, who works at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. He was recently
driving along the B4368 when he hit a large pothole between Long Meadow End and Holly Bank and his tyre blew. It was 7am and still dark and the water-filled pothole couldn’t be seen.
“I went with my son to take some photos of the hole and reported it to Shropshire Highways. After a further exchange of emails, it was logged as an ’emergency repair’. This was done by the Council’s contractors Keir.
However, I checked on the repair and again complained to senior officers as it was just a
useless dump of tarmac into half the pothole! Finally, after much chasing from me on it was repaired 11th February.
“I have spent a great deal of time repeatedly reporting potholes to Shropshire Council over the last few years. The whole system is inefficient and ineffective. This is just one of many instances of poor repairs coming loose that my colleagues Heather Kidd, Ruth Houghton and myself have complained about over the last few months.
“My son has since claimed the total cost of £152 of recovery and repair from the Council and I urge anyone who has suffered damage to do likewise. Ratepayers deserve better service than this. We shouldn’t have to wait for someone’s car to be damaged for a repair to be done.