Council gets streetwise

Photo: Anthony Miller

THE continuing roadworks on Shaw Road, Royton

OLDHAM Council is planning to take action to reduce the £1.64 million a year compensation payments it makes to motorists and pedestrians resulting from the poor state of roads and pavements.

Oldham is seen as a soft touch by road contractors because it does not have enough officers to visit roadworks on the day they begin to check paperwork, according to a group of councillors.

Too many repairs have to be made as emergency unplanned works — around 5,000 a year — rather than registered as planned roadworks.

A network of voluntary street watchers should be used across the borough to report defective road repairs after surfaces have been dug up.

These are the finding of a special task and finish group of members from Oldham Council’s Scrutiny panel, which will be reported tonight. The panel will hear that utilities should be sharing trenches to co-ordinate roadworks, and long-term works should have customer-care units on site, with a customer contact number.

The task and finish group asked if roadworks could be better co-ordinated to cut disruption, with better quality work to reduce the risk of injuries to pedestriand, cyclists, motor-cyclists and other road-users.

Members also demanded a reduction in the time it takes to get roadworks finished to an acceptable standard. They talked to lawyers, highways officers, utility companies, contractors, cyclists and disabled-access campaigners. A major finding was that in 2006 Oldham Council paid out 70 of the 112 claims from motorists as a result of defective roads, and 31 out of 69 the following year.

All claims to the Highways department, not just for defective roadworks, totalled around £1.64 million in 2006-7 and 2007-8.

The group suggests employing two more highways inspectors, at a cost of around £52,000. It says: “Appointing more inspectors would save substantial money for the council long term by enabling it to be more proactive in undertaking more inspections more frequently.”

Other recommendations include creating a joint fund for emergency work, so that repairs are not held up while officers decide who should pay.

However, officers point out that currently the council has no legal powers to ask utilities to pay into this, so it would have to be voluntary.

Utility companies would have to guarantee their work for two years to prevent future costs falling on the council.