Part Time Road Contractors Slammed

Part Time Road Contractors Slammed

Heather has slammed many of the Councils road contractors for working ‘part time’ on many projects and inflicting unnecessary distress to many communities

Heather said “we have had a lot of roadworks in our area recently, most of it necessary, some quite urgent. However, what really annoys many residents and myself is their penchant for closing stretches of road and then do precious little work.

In the village of Marton over the last few weeks for example, we have seen the main road shut from 9-3 each day. This causes considerable disruption. In return the contractors have spent most of the last fortnight working on one small part of the village. I’ve tried very hard to allow access to the pub and shop during this period to no avail. The road remained closed on the stretch up to the Shop and the Pub. It really hit their trade.

“There is also the question of value for money for the Shropshire tax payer. In Stiperstones for example I am told that the contractors one day at 11am and went home between 2 and 3pm and this is not an isolated incident. It also happened frequently during the Marton to Brockton road closure.

“The new contract for the replacement to Ringway (the Council’s current contractor)must include bonuses for works finishing early and penalties for days when road closures are not used fully as happened in Stiperstones when the crew failed to turn up on 2 consecutive days to repair the damage caused by the badger sett.

“These closures – whether caused by the Council or others such as BT or Severn Trent – must take into account the huge diversions caused and the harm caused to local businesses. The next Council must make sure it has enough powers to manage and protect our rural communities.”

Heather has raised the issue with the area Director and is pushing for adoption by the council for next round of negotia tigon with new contractors