Darwen motorists angry at potholes (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Darwen motorists angry at potholes
4:11pm Sunday 30th January 2011 in Darwen
POTHOLE Belgrave Road, Darwen
DARWEN motorists are calling for action after raising concerns about the poor state of the town's roads.
The big freeze had a devastating effect on the roads in the county with many road surfaces littered with craters and potholes.
Last week, the Lancashire Telegraph launched a Pothole Watch campaign urging readers to send in photos of the worst-hit roads in the area
Pothole hotspots include James Street West, Belgrave Road and Borough Road in Darwen.
Darwen resident Simon Heslington said: "Every time we have cold weather they blame that for causing the potholes.
"They probably think it is cheaper to patch the potholes than properly repair the road. "What I think they fail to see and understand is that the potholes are not randomly appearing all over, but that there are certain key areas that are being repeatedly repaired again and again.
"There needs to be a massive overhaul of all the major roads in Darwen otherwise this problem is just going to get worse and worse."
Many potholes have appeared because of water repeatedly freezing and expanding in cracks in the road during the big freeze in December.
In Blackburn with Darwen, resurfacing work has got underway on many badly-affected stretches including the A666 through Darwen.
Sunnyhurst ward councillor, Tony Melia, called for a "complete overhaul" of the road maintenance programme.
He said: "The roads are appalling at the moment and they will get worse because when they are repaired the job is not done properly and they are just patched up.
"There are some potholes in speed bumps in the town and they are really dangerous because people are swerving to miss them. "It is horrendous because some of these craters are near health centre's and primary schools.”
Comments(28)
rob_ossy
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5:18pm Sun 30 Jan 11
Scooby
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5:24pm Sun 30 Jan 11
Good call
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6:10pm Sun 30 Jan 11
slackerbtch
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7:03pm Sun 30 Jan 11
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Just keener to bleat and moan about it.
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Dont like it? Well, vote for a politician who is determined to make the difficult decisions to cut money from somewhere else like, oh I dont know, leisure centres for instance?
Wigansalad
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7:03pm Sun 30 Jan 11
MerlinTheVoiceofReason
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7:32pm Sun 30 Jan 11
slackerbtch wrote:That'll be Shadsworth then.
Darwen, the rest of Lancashire, much of the rest of the country... Darwens roads are no worse than anywhere else.
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Just keener to bleat and moan about it.
.
Dont like it? Well, vote for a politician who is determined to make the difficult decisions to cut money from somewhere else like, oh I dont know, leisure centres for instance?
Stone Island
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8:11pm Sun 30 Jan 11
SimonHeslington
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8:29pm Sun 30 Jan 11
* * *
At long last the Lancashire Telegraph is getting involved in highlighting the state of the roads in the local area.
Perhaps you would be interested to hear about three areas that have been of concern to me since September 2009.
The areas are James Street West, Belgrave Road and Borough Road, all in Darwen.
Lets take them in turn.
James Street West. This road is full of potholes, worn patches and surface changes. It services the Health Center. As you come down the side of the Heath Center into a heavy braking area the road is so broken up and potholey that it is a wonder that cars are able to stop without hitting anything or any one.
Belgrave Road. This road services a local primary school and the school bus services for several nearby schools, plus our own public bus service. Again this road is full of potholes and surface changes.
Borough Road. What is there to say about this road? Well to put it simply it has been patched and bodged so many times it is probably more the case that there is no original road left to replace - it is either a pothole or a pothole repair. It services Belgrave Road (i.e. the services mentioned above), plus Holy Trinity School, plus the Health Center.
All these problems are well known to the all the people mentioned in the CC in this email. They have been reported to them by me repeatedly since September 2009. Unfortunately they either don't want to (or don't care to) do anything about the problems. Any repairs that are done soon fail and have had to be done again (and again and again). Take that cut out on Borough Road - it took TWELVE months to get it fixed. Countless hours wasted in sending pictures and emails every time a new hole appeared. There must have been TWENTY different patches in an area less than the size of a small bathroom.
Every time we have cold weather they blame that for causing the potholes - if that is so how come you can see them on Google Earth (some of the images there are from MAY 2009). A case in point is the area around Hollins Grove, Darwen. That has been patched and patched so many times at a cost I don't even want to think about.
The point of this email to you is this - IF it has taken nearly 18 months of almost constant pestering and reminding to the people copied into this email for just three short stretches of road how much is needed to get them to do anything about all the other roads in the area that are just as bad and worse than the areas highlighted above.
They probably think it is cheaper to patch the potholes than properly repair the road. What I think they fail to see and understand is that the potholes are not randomly appearing all over, but that there are certain key areas that are being repeatedly repaired again and again. How much this is costing I do not know - (I did ask but the councillor never bothered to reply).
Until these KEY areas are sorted out and PROPERLY REPAIRED they are simply wasting money that could be used to repair the minor odd pothole here and there.
There needs to be a massive overhaul of all the major roads in Darwen otherwise this problem is just going to get worse and worse and worse and......
Darrens Delivery Service
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9:22pm Sun 30 Jan 11
samspence
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7:55am Mon 31 Jan 11
athomeagain
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8:17am Mon 31 Jan 11
I used to have a citroen with the hydraulic suspension, I wish I still did...
Darrens Delivery Service
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9:03am Mon 31 Jan 11
samspence wrote:Drive around them!!! Some one did that on Anyon street a week or two ago and got a ticket for care-less driving. Plus if you can see them on a dark road at night you have better eye sight than me.
It may or may not sink in but they really are out of money.All the above complaining about the potholes can obviously see them ,So slow down AND DRIVE AROUND THEM.
happycyclist
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9:12am Mon 31 Jan 11
athomeagain wrote:Road tax no more goes on maintaining roads than alcohol duty goes towards building new distilleries.
I'm probably wrong here but doesn't the road tax on your car go to maintaining the roads? there are many more cars on the road since I passed my test and at £200ish per year we should have the best roads in europe.
I used to have a citroen with the hydraulic suspension, I wish I still did...
In fact there's no such thing as 'road tax' -it was abolished by Winston Churchill and replaced by 'vehicle excise duty', which just goes into the central government pot.
Excluded again
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9:20am Mon 31 Jan 11
Scooby wrote:What Cllr Melia did, when he was in power, was vote against an increased road maintenance programme of £1 million a year proposed by the then Labour opposition. Twice. This was when the Council had a lot more money than now.
So Mr Melia, what are you actually doing about it on behalf of those who elected you as ward councillor?
In an era of massive cutbacks spending on roads will fall along with everything else. The time to have done something more than patch up was a few years ago when there was money in the kitty.
Wigansalad
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9:22am Mon 31 Jan 11
athomeagain wrote:Road repair comes from the councils highways budget which is being cut by 25% like the rest of the councils budget. There will also be less weeding which will cause further damage to the roads. It would be a better use of your time to protest the unnecessary cuts than to appeal to the council who have been one of the hardest hit by the cuts. Better still move to Cameron's constituency where they are getting a 1% cut.
I'm probably wrong here but doesn't the road tax on your car go to maintaining the roads? there are many more cars on the road since I passed my test and at £200ish per year we should have the best roads in europe. I used to have a citroen with the hydraulic suspension, I wish I still did...
Angusam
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9:51am Mon 31 Jan 11
britguy
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10:08am Mon 31 Jan 11
They have had the money but chosen not to spend it on what it is collected for.
As for your bl**dy stupid comment about drive round them that is only going to lead to some one having and accident hitting something coming the other way doing the same thing.
And what about motor cycles and cyclists, some of these pot holes are lethal.
Even some of the recent repairs are just an half ar*ed job that is going to be just a bad after a couple of good frosts.
Theres too much b*llocks talked about out of money.
Cut out some of the nanny state sh*te like five a day co-ordinaters, f*ucking lesbian out reach workers and all these bl**dy creches were lazy cows spend the day painting their nails and texting and start spending the money on what it was collected for.
Out of money my a*rse.
samspence
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11:08am Mon 31 Jan 11
Stone Island
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12:47pm Mon 31 Jan 11
britguy wrote:Thats a great rant. Spot on aswell.
Out of money my a*rse. Where is all the council tax we pay,were is all the money raked in from car parks and other cash generating council rip offs. They have had the money but chosen not to spend it on what it is collected for. As for your bl**dy stupid comment about drive round them that is only going to lead to some one having and accident hitting something coming the other way doing the same thing. And what about motor cycles and cyclists, some of these pot holes are lethal. Even some of the recent repairs are just an half ar*ed job that is going to be just a bad after a couple of good frosts. Theres too much b*llocks talked about out of money. Cut out some of the nanny state sh*te like five a day co-ordinaters, f*ucking lesbian out reach workers and all these bl**dy creches were lazy cows spend the day painting their nails and texting and start spending the money on what it was collected for. Out of money my a*rse.
CapitaBackHander
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1:08pm Mon 31 Jan 11
That said I would like to point out that the council is also to blame. How are funds allocated? The last council for some reason closed the road at the side of the Post office (Circus) and claimed this was because cars turned right when not allowed - closing was not the answer and was also nonsense reason for the traffic jams. For a year two huge tubs blocked the road. This has just been paved. Why was this money wasted at the start and more importanly a week or so ago?
Darwen Tower
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6:53pm Mon 31 Jan 11
masterdebater.co.uk
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7:18pm Mon 31 Jan 11
The roads were a surprise in that i'd forgotten what it was like too drive on smooth ones.
That said, given the council's current economic situation I would be happy if they left the roads alone and saved the money.
Wigansalad
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8:57pm Mon 31 Jan 11
Darwen Tower wrote:That would be this May. I think Melia, Huggill and Davies who've all been whinging about the roads but did nothing about it when they were in the ruling coalition should have their @rse$ handed to them at the next election.
I agree Darwen's roads are probably no worse than anywhere else. Bolton's are bad too around Dunscar & Bromley Cross. But if Darwen people shout more something may be done. Rose tinted specs off now - we should get rid of the councillors that are partly to blame for the problem and chose how the money they do have is spent. When are the next local elections in Darwen anyone?
Wigansalad
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9:04pm Mon 31 Jan 11
masterdebater.co.uk wrote:The south west isn't facing the cuts on anywhere near the scale we are. The north west has the worst cuts in the country. A cursory look at how people vote in these areas is very instructive.
@Slackerbtch, I have been in Cornwall, Devon & Dumfries recently. The roads were a surprise in that i'd forgotten what it was like too drive on smooth ones. That said, given the council's current economic situation I would be happy if they left the roads alone and saved the money.
Good call
says...
9:32pm Mon 31 Jan 11
Stone Island wrote:That was one of the best Posts/Rants I've seen on here in quite a while only thing though britguy,you forgot the Climate change Teams **** ,Diversity officers Rubbish and these pathetic New "scam bins" that they are wasting the tax people like me and you pay in on.
britguy wrote: Out of money my a*rse. Where is all the council tax we pay,were is all the money raked in from car parks and other cash generating council rip offs. They have had the money but chosen not to spend it on what it is collected for. As for your bl**dy stupid comment about drive round them that is only going to lead to some one having and accident hitting something coming the other way doing the same thing. And what about motor cycles and cyclists, some of these pot holes are lethal. Even some of the recent repairs are just an half ar*ed job that is going to be just a bad after a couple of good frosts. Theres too much b*llocks talked about out of money. Cut out some of the nanny state sh*te like five a day co-ordinaters, f*ucking lesbian out reach workers and all these bl**dy creches were lazy cows spend the day painting their nails and texting and start spending the money on what it was collected for. Out of money my a*rse.Thats a great rant. Spot on aswell.
samspence
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7:58am Wed 2 Feb 11
gazzandste
says...
12:25pm Sun 6 Feb 11
artois says...
5:05pm Sun 30 Jan 11