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‘Victory’ in Darwen potholes fight

10:13am Thursday 15th October 2009 in Darwen Photograph of the Author By Catherine Pye, Reporter

REPAIRS ON WAY: Coun Tony Melia inspects one of the potholes in Inverness Road REPAIRS ON WAY: Coun Tony Melia inspects one of the potholes in Inverness Road

RESIDENTS are claiming victory after repairs to dozens of potholes on Darwen roads was brought forward by more than a year.

Repair work to holes inches deep in Inverness Road, Borough Road and Manor Road was scheduled for the end of 2010 and early 2011.

But after repeated complaints by residents and councillors, Blackburn with Darwen Council now says it fill in the holes by the end of the month. Full resurfacing will take place next summer.

Sunnyhurst councillor and deputy leader of the council Tony Melia said it was a “people’s victory” that had been months in the making.

He said: “The council was going to wait until the end of 2010 before looking at repairing any of the roads. There has been a lot of degradation on them since last year because of the frosts and nothing was being done.

“I travel on these roads daily so I understand where the residents are coming from. One of the biggest topics I hear about as a councillor is the state of the roads.

“But after lots of ear-chewing it has been decided to carry out the work quickly. And they won’t just be patched up. It’ll be a proper job.

“I’m really pleased, it means a lot to the people of the town.”

Coun Alan Cottam, executive mem-ber for regeneration, said: “Pothole repairs are due to take place on these roads because of the safety defects.

"Surface dressing is proposed to take place in summer 2010.”

Comments(17)

CapitaBackHander says...
10:22am Thu 15 Oct 09

LOL I can't beleive how naive people are - do you really think the repairs will be any good? The council mean they will patch up the potholes and therefore you will need to complain again approx one month after the 'repair'. Seriously Irish guys running a business from a mobile phone would do a better job, in fact they would probably be happy dumping the tarmac on the road than where they currently do at the end of the day!

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whereistedward says...
12:27pm Thu 15 Oct 09

Manor Rd was actually in the programme for re-surfacing this year (2009/10) so it has actually been delayed not brought forward !!

Councillor Melia is a bit of a hypocrite on this issue as he voted against the Labour budget proposal to spend more on road resurfacing than the Tory, Lib-Dem, 'For Darwen' coalition.

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Ex-Darrener says...
1:02pm Thu 15 Oct 09

“I travel on these roads daily, so I understand where the residents are coming from.” Yes — the other end of the road! Save us from clichés.

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amazed says...
1:51pm Thu 15 Oct 09

What about Harwood Street, Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst Lane (not Owlet Hall, that was already fully resurfaced, near Counc. Dave Smith's home!!) I have just had to spend £255 to replace a pair of rear springs on my car which has done 15,000 miles. According to the garage, caused by rough roads and speed humps. A disgrace and it is time that some action was taken by residents.

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kfw22 says...
2:43pm Thu 15 Oct 09

how do we claim against the council. i just had to pay 500pound on new alloy wheel cracked on this road!!!

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CapitaBackHander says...
3:29pm Thu 15 Oct 09

amazed wrote:
What about Harwood Street, Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst Lane (not Owlet Hall, that was already fully resurfaced, near Counc. Dave Smith's home!!) I have just had to spend £255 to replace a pair of rear springs on my car which has done 15,000 miles. According to the garage, caused by rough roads and speed humps. A disgrace and it is time that some action was taken by residents.
Seriously I can not believe that! 15,000 miles? I do that in 9 months and in 2 yrs I have (and would not expect to) not had to touch anything on the car. In fact I have never had to replace suspension other than when I was a boy racer.
You have a different fault or have been misled.
They also don't re-surface a road because of Dave Smiths (parents?) home. That is Paranoia gone to far.
Hope you find the true fault with your car before something serious happens.

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RAyzer says...
3:49pm Thu 15 Oct 09

the dive,leave it...its a hovel!!!

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Excluded says...
4:01pm Thu 15 Oct 09

Would that be the Inverness Road and Manor Road which were included in the Council's programme for full resurfacing this year? And then have been removed from the programme because the Council say that they have run out of money?

And would that be the Councillor Tony Melia who is Deputy leader of the Council that has removed Manor Road and Inverness Road from the resurfacing programme?

Surely not?

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Darrens Delivery Service says...
10:58pm Thu 15 Oct 09

I do agree Inverness road is quite bad. I will give it one month at the most for the holes to re-appear. Never seem to get a proper job done this council. What about the hundreds of other roads and streets in Darwen that are riddled with potholes and craters.. When are you going to do these..2025?

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Darrens Delivery Service says...
11:05pm Thu 15 Oct 09

amazed wrote:
What about Harwood Street, Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst Lane (not Owlet Hall, that was already fully resurfaced, near Counc. Dave Smith's home!!) I have just had to spend £255 to replace a pair of rear springs on my car which has done 15,000 miles. According to the garage, caused by rough roads and speed humps. A disgrace and it is time that some action was taken by residents.
Well,I have had the same problem as you, broken rear spring on a 23,000 ford Ka. and many other suspension parts that have been damaged by the potholed ridden streets and roads in Darwen. AND the same comments as you from a reputable garage.So I totally believe you.Its a bloody disgrace. The council should foot the bill, not us.

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Darrens Delivery Service says...
11:05pm Thu 15 Oct 09

amazed wrote:
What about Harwood Street, Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst Lane (not Owlet Hall, that was already fully resurfaced, near Counc. Dave Smith's home!!) I have just had to spend £255 to replace a pair of rear springs on my car which has done 15,000 miles. According to the garage, caused by rough roads and speed humps. A disgrace and it is time that some action was taken by residents.
Well,I have had the same problem as you, broken rear spring on a 23,000 ford Ka. and many other suspension parts that have been damaged by the potholed ridden streets and roads in Darwen. AND the same comments as you from a reputable garage.So I totally believe you.Its a bloody disgrace. The council should foot the bill, not us.

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BluesBros says...
10:26am Fri 16 Oct 09

One of the big problems is the council or Balfour Beatty are forever digging up the roads because of leaking gas or water mains and sewage mains failing etc. So the problems lie much deeper I’m afraid. However, when these repairs are done the standard is shocking. The road usually ends up like a patch work quilt with lumps and bumps all over the place and things like man hole covers and curb side drains are often left sunken to the point that when you run over then in your car they feel like a pot hole. I have to say that having lived in South Africa for 18 years which is still regarded as a 3rd world country the roads there and the maintenance were infinitely better than the roads around East Lancashire. We must have some of the worst roads in the country. I totally agree with Capitabackhander that simply patching up pot holes is a very short term fix and once the winter sets in they will be back to square one very quickly. There needs to be a major overhaul of our roads around Lancashire and particularly East Lancashire whereby more roads get the full treatment not just patched up. I’m not even going to get onto the subject of public footpaths but I have to say that these too are in a shocking state. Ever since they went with asphalt resurfacing of all our footpaths it has again become a mine field of patched up holes. Patches on patches you can’t even walk down some footpaths without tripping. Can only imagine how bad it must be trying to push a pram around with a young child. It must be horrendous. Yet the towns councillors are spending millions of pounds re inventing the wheel in the town centre when our basic infrastructure is in drastic need of repair. How much do these folk get paid?

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whereistedward says...
11:21am Fri 16 Oct 09

amazed wrote:
What about Harwood Street, Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst Lane (not Owlet Hall, that was already fully resurfaced, near Counc. Dave Smith's home!!) I have just had to spend £255 to replace a pair of rear springs on my car which has done 15,000 miles. According to the garage, caused by rough roads and speed humps. A disgrace and it is time that some action was taken by residents.
Harwood St is in the re-surfacing programme for 09/10. Earnsdale Avenue footpaths to be re-surfaced too. Sunnyhurst Lane probably to be resurfaced 10/11.
If cars are damaged because of pot-holes etc simply make a claim with the council's insurers. Just ring the council's insurance claims staff.

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darwenroads says...
12:43pm Sat 17 Oct 09

email pothole pictures to :
darwenroadsareamess@
yahoo.co.uk
They will get passed on.

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darwenroads says...
1:14pm Sat 17 Oct 09

And: Is anyone EVER GOING TO FIX THAT WATER-LEAK ON RESERVOIR STREET?????? THREE YEARS IT'S BEEN LEAKING!!!!!!

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darwenroads says...
6:36pm Mon 19 Oct 09

If anyone is in any doubt as to the state of the roads you simply need to look here.

http://darwenroads.w
ebs.com/

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whereistedward says...
11:29pm Mon 19 Oct 09

darwenroads wrote:
And: Is anyone EVER GOING TO FIX THAT WATER-LEAK ON RESERVOIR STREET?????? THREE YEARS IT'S BEEN LEAKING!!!!!!
Please write letters and send letters to United Utilities !

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