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A hole lot of trouble as potholes litter borough
Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date online: 20 January 2010
OLDHAM Council is set to begin counting the cost of damage to roads caused by the recent big freeze.
The cold snap has seen potholes appear or worsen on many of the borough’s highways.
National statistics claim heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures have left Britain’s roads with more than a million potholes which will cost at least £100million to repair.
And there is an estimated one pothole for every 100 yards of road across the country.
It is not yet known how much it will cost to repair Oldham’s potholed roads.
Councillor Mark Alcock, cabinet member for Environment and Infrastructure, said Oldham Council was aware of the potential problems the prolonged cold weather was likely to have had on the network.
Councillor Alcock said: “The problems apply to all highways across the country, and Highway Services staff will be assessing the damage when the severe weather abates.
“The Pothole Mole system is working well and once the snow has cleared the teams will be working to address these problems as soon as we can.
“Any major works will be addressed as appropriate.”
Last September, a new rapid response service to tackle holes in the road was launched by Oldham Council.
An extra £60,000 was allocated in the authority’s budget to set-up Pothole Mole, a specialist repair team.
READERS can report dangerous potholes to 0161-770 4325 (daytime), 770 1685 (out of hours).
Comments
now if ombc had started a major resurfacing program to completely repair all the terrible roads around oldham then there wouldnt be any potholes now. but again! useless alcock just does the bare minimum!
once a pothole has appeared you cannot fully repair it as water has penetrated under the top surface of tarmac.
once its there only a little ground frost will make it reappear! its not rocket science! AL£OCK OUT!
Moved here to BC, Canada 6 years ago....we don't have any potholes....and far more ice and snow than back home in Oldham......futhermore we all get to work everyday and all the schools stay open.....good luck Oldham...you will need it :(
Funny but other boroughs in Greater Manchester has teams out filling potholes as soon as the snow melted. I suppose in Oldham they'll need to make sure enough money has been allocated to each team so they can fill the potholes with that! I expect it would work out cheaper, and after all Oldham does seem to like wasting it!
READERS can report dangerous potholes - perhaps alcock assuming he can locate the single cell define dangerous, my alloys have been destroyed by the pathetic patch jobs the council and it cronies have done on Gibraltar st…
I reported a pothole directly outside the civic centre last year yet it was a week before it was repaired in which time it had doubled in size. If Alcock couldn't spot that then what chance has he got around the rest of the borough?
Heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures have left Britain’s roads with more than a million potholes which will cost at least £100million to repair. It is not yet known how much it will cost to repair Oldham’s potholed roads, but latest estimates put the figure at around £98.8 million. Last September, a new rapid response service to tackle holes in the road was launched by Oldham Council. Weather permitting, they expect to begin work about July or August maybe September..ish.
What happened to that creature that was supposed to fix/patch up these holes....................
Cllr Alcock - we are not worried about else where - we are worried about Oldham and surrounding areas............. YOU SERVE US not anyone else!
Councillor Alcock said: “The problems apply to all highways across the country,
We live in Chadderton blameshifting fool
Have Your Say
Trouble is Mr Allcock, Oldham having some of the worst roads in the country before the cold snap has now made things much, much worse. If there was no hole there before the cold snap, no water then ice could have been in it, could it Mr Allcock? Maybe we could ask nice Mr Miller for some council tax money back to repair them?
By timberwolf @ 20/01/2010 12:58:28