Letter: They repair road – then dig it up! (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Letter: They repair road – then dig it up!
4:00pm Thursday 19th July 2012 in Opinion
I live on Blackburn Road, Darwen; a busy road with lots of heavy traffic.
For years we lived with a road surface that was so bad, even less prosperous countries would have been ashamed.
Finally, last year, the road got a makeover – not only the surface but the whole road.
So imagine my surprise when I received a letter from the National Grid. They have just started work on the gas mains, digging up our year-old road surface. Now potholes are guaranteed for years to come.
The disruption was enormous: M65 queues both ways on the exit slip roads. It took me an hour from slip road to home, a little over a mile.
You only need a little bit of common sense to ask why these two works were not co-ordinated.
I don’t know how it works in this country (I’m Dutch) but I presume the national grid and council are in communication with each other? Couldn’t this have been done before the road was resurfaced?
I contacted Balfour Beatty months ago after receiving the first letter. It was a call centre. He was friendly enough, but couldn’t help.
I don’t know how else to express my frustration. Vivien Townshend (Mrs), Blackburn Road, Darwen.
Excluded again says...
6:42am Fri 20 Jul 12
Up until the mid-1980s, Councils had the power and the duty to co-ordinate road works.
However, when the thatcher government privatised the utilities, they decided they did not want 'inefficient Councils' holding back 'efficient private comapnies'. So they took away the power of Councils to co-ordinate road works.Private utility companies can dig up the road when they like and there is nothing the Council can do about it.
Mrs Townsend is right that this flies in the face of common sense.