104 replies to this topic

[GJC]

BREAKING NEWS

The pothole repair team (temporary) did work on a small section of the potholes in Copperkins Lane this afternoon. They are returning tomorrow morning at 9.30 am with the intention of doing all of the bad areas.

This work is quite extensive so Copperkins Lane will be an area to avoid tomorrow morning if travelling by car.

If the repair team arrive and parked vehicles prevent them from doing the work they will leave the site and carry on elsewhere. I am doing all I can to prevent anybody associated with Heatherton House School from parking there after 9.30 am, and all staff and parents are being notified by text or email using the schools messaging service.

[David P]

This work is quite extensive so Copperkins Lane will be an area to avoid tomorrow morning if travelling by car.

Copperkins Lane is an area to avoid every morning.

If the repair team arrive and parked vehicles prevent them from doing the work they will leave the site and carry on elsewhere. I am doing all I can to prevent anybody associated with Heatherton House School from parking there after 9.30 am, and all staff and parents are being notified by text or email using the schools messaging service.

If they can manage it tomorrow why can they not manage it every day?

[GJC]

Copperkins Lane is an area to avoid every morning.

If they can manage it tomorrow why can they not manage it every day?

Sorry David, as you know there are no Parking Restrictions in Copperkins Lane (whether this is right or wrong is a separate subject) and the standard of car parking in the whole of Amersham is the worst I have seen anywhere. Until I came to Amersham 6 years ago I was working in Stately Homes in areas as diverse as Bath, Macclesfield, & Suffolk. In none of those places would drivers even think of parking on pavements and blocking access to pedestrians - in Amersham drivers take it for granted that they can do so and that no sanctions will be applied.

Why are you expecting better behaviour from drivers in Copperkins than elsewhere in the Town?

[GJC]

Great. After all the work I put in to get drivers to leave Copperkins Lane free for the Council's Contractors to work unimpeded this morning, the gang worked for just over an hour and did about 25% of the repairs. They were then called off to another job. The gang were apologetic and said they would try and return later or Monday - but I used up all my powers of persuasion and calling in of favours to get the road left clear today. I now look totally stupid to all the people I told that if they co-operated we would get the repairs done that we have been waiting for since before March 2009.

Guess how much co-operation I will be giving the Council workers on any future works.

[Eaton]

Guess how much co-operation I will be giving the Council workers on any future works.

Frustrating though it might be, it's not the workers fault if they were called away. They do what they are told, when they are told to do it and at least you got some of the repairs done. The only real question is how long the repair work lasts?

[GJC]

Frustrating though it might be, it's not the workers fault if they were called away. They do what they are told, when they are told to do it and at least you got some of the repairs done. The only real question is how long the repair work lasts?

Yup, should have made it clear I was not blaming the workers, in fact I fed them cups of tea whilst they were there. They were called to an "emergency" on a main road in Amersham and were the only team near it. I would love to know what sort of emergency it was that kept them from coming back to us from 11am until close of business.

I am told that they are coming back on Monday and will be staying until all work is finished, however this is still not the permanent repair. I was originally told that the Plane & Fill team would be coming to Copperkins in April to do this, now they are saying that they are trying to fit it into scheduling for June. This is exactly what happened last year, I was told they would sort it out at Easter. Then they actually issued an order to a Contractor to renew 190 sq m of surface during Summer Holidays. Council then appointed a new Contractor and they seem to have forgotten to pass the order across.

I am not a gambling man but does anybody want to bet that they do indeed do permanent repair to Copperkins during 2010 calendar year?

[struthie]

Well the emergency wasn't my road,and it is getting worse by the day.

[roob_the_doob]

They were called to an "emergency" on a main road in Amersham

Presumably this "emergency" was a hole that had just been reported, thus making the council liable for any damage due to people hitting it.

[Eaton]

Presumably this "emergency" was a hole that had just been reported, thus making the council liable for any damage due to people hitting it.

I might be wrong but as far as I'm aware they have 10 days to repair any pothole before they are liable for damages. The exception being if the hole was in an unlit, 60mph road and was more than a certain width and depth, I can't remember the exact dimensions but it's something like 6 inches deep and 12 inches long.

[hyposmurf]

Im still noticing new potholes appearing and previously filled potholes re-appearing.Some of the potholea around manholes are especially deep.

[GJC]

My children and grandchildren all live in parts of South London. I drove around yesterday on family visits and frankly it was difficult to find a pothole to report on. Our area is supposed to be one of the wealthiest in the Country and we are riddled with them.

I think our Council are guilty of gross mismanagement. They do not even seem to think they have the ability to direct contractors working for them.

In my days as Financial Director of reasonably sized gropus of companies, if a Manager put 4 lots of temporary solutions forward for a problem which themselves cost twice as much as 1 permanent solution they would lose their job and get a bad reference. Our Council seem to be prepared to allow inefficient Managers to hide behind the cry "Budget". They try to claim that the budget for the permanent repair will not be available until the new budget year, and yet the exact same Contractors are doing ther temporary repairs as will be doing the permanent ones.

It is about time our Councillors took control of the Departments working for them and told Managers either to do their jobs properly or to go elsewhere.

[Rob]

My children and grandchildren all live in parts of South London. I drove around yesterday on family visits and frankly it was difficult to find a pothole to report on. Our area is supposed to be one of the wealthiest in the Country and we are riddled with them.

I think our Council are guilty of gross mismanagement. They do not even seem to think they have the ability to direct contractors working for them.

In my days as Financial Director of reasonably sized gropus of companies, if a Manager put 4 lots of temporary solutions forward for a problem which themselves cost twice as much as 1 permanent solution they would lose their job and get a bad reference. Our Council seem to be prepared to allow inefficient Managers to hide behind the cry "Budget". They try to claim that the budget for the permanent repair will not be available until the new budget year, and yet the exact same Contractors are doing ther temporary repairs as will be doing the permanent ones.

It is about time our Councillors took control of the Departments working for them and told Managers either to do their jobs properly or to go elsewhere.

Couldn't agree more - these contractors need reviewing / inspecting / checking. It is our money they are wasting.

[Eaton]

Couldn't agree more - these contractors need reviewing / inspecting / checking. It is our money they are wasting.

Whilst I completely agree with your comment, I'm sure that I've read elsewhere that local councils have to take the cheapest tender from contractors, so it's possible that the present gang of contractors that are responsible for maintaining and repairing our roads have featured on one of those cowboy builder programs. In fact the present contractors seem to do little better jobwise than the gangs that knock on your door and say that they've got a bit of tarmac left over do you want them to tarmac your drive...

[roob_the_doob]

Whilst I completely agree with your comment, I'm sure that I've read elsewhere that local councils have to take the cheapest tender from contractors, so it's possible that the present gang of contractors that are responsible for maintaining and repairing our roads have featured on one of those cowboy builder programs. In fact the present contractors seem to do little better jobwise than the gangs that knock on your door and say that they've got a bit of tarmac left over do you want them to tarmac your drive...

It's true that the lowest tender has to be accepted, but that simply begs the question of what was it that was being tendered for. What quality requirements (if any) were stated in the contract?

[GJC]

It's true that the lowest tender has to be accepted, but that simply begs the question of what was it that was being tendered for. What quality requirements (if any) were stated in the contract?

I do not know about the tender process. All I know, because I have actually spoken to the gangs doing the work, is that the men doing the temporary repairs are employed by the same Contractor that is contracted to do permanent repairs.

[GJC]

Hopefully this will be my last posting to this thread. The temporary repair gang did turn up this morning as promised. They have pretty much repaired all the holes in the surface of Copperkins Lane outside the school. They have even repaired the hole left by poor repairs 3 years ago that left a deep hole where water collects in just the place that all vehicles have to drive thus causing pupils and staff to get frequent soaking with muddy water.

I still think that the amount of money that has been wasted doing 4 lots of temporary repairs in this calendar year on holes that were mostly 12 months old is a disgrace.

If anybody wants to start a sweepstake on how long it will be before this surface breaks up again needing more urgent repairs can put me down for 5 weeks - would start one myself but I am now bored with it all.

[hyposmurf]

I do not know about the tender process. All I know, because I have actually spoken to the gangs doing the work, is that the men doing the temporary repairs are employed by the same Contractor that is contracted to do permanent repairs.

That doenst sound like a great plan.

[Fran]

Well, we can stop worrying about our battered bones and cars; the BFP reports that repair work is "outstanding".

Even if some of the work is outstanding (though I admit I've not seen evidence of that), and allowing for the fact that even if the budget was doubled, there would be logistical issues in fixing all of them quickly, I can't really see how the word is justified.

It's a strange article that includes the following (my italics):

Councillor Martin Tett said: “The problem is, first of all, there are so many that people don’t know the ones that are filled. Secondly, I don’t think we should tell the public about how well we are doing because that is a phenomenal achievement."

Ignoring the oddity of the senitiment, if Cllr Tett doesn't want us to know, why is he talking to the press?

See BFP story. It even includes a video so you can watch a pothole being repaired - which ends with the supervisor volunteering the opinion that the patching pothole repairs wouldn't last or make much difference!

[Eaton]

It's a strange article that includes the following (my italics):

I noticed that but thought it was just the usual standard of professional BFP reporting.

The only part of any road and pothole repairing that I'd class as outstanding is Moor Road by the outdoor pool, although it's a shame that after about 150 feet of pristine road surface it leads onto the rest of the 'surface of the moon' that BCC laughably call a road!

[hyposmurf]

I noticed that but thought it was just the usual standard of professional BFP reporting.

The only part of any road and pothole repairing that I'd class as outstanding is Moor Road by the outdoor pool, although it's a shame that after about 150 feet of pristine road surface it leads onto the rest of the 'surface of the moon' that BCC laughably call a road!

Two Dells lane is good to, but both these roads have been completely re-surfaced.Eventually Bucks CC are going to have to bite the bullet and totally re-surface roads, instead of patch repairing the patch repaired roads.

[David P]

the BFP reports that repair work is "outstanding".

Some of the work is certainly outstanding - it's been outstanding for several months. One or two filled potholes stand out (they have been over-filled).

[ITSMEAGAIN]

Having driven extensively around the country I can say that for me this borough council is by far the worst I've seen for the maintenance and repairing of roads. (In fact it's the worst in may other respects as well but I won't go into that now!). Some of the filled pot holes are almost as bad now as they were before "repair". Why do they employ such cowboy outfits? I hope they're not paying for some of the poor workmanship, but I very much doubt it. Their poor management of our money is legendary!

[zippys]

isn't it about time the local council stop making excuses and started fixing the bad damaged roads

I don't want my taxs paying compo...http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim

[hyposmurf]

Neither do I,its annoying the council have let the roads get in such a poor state that many more claims are now being made.The extreme weather is responsible for some of the holes, but I believe if the roads had been kept in a better state before, they wouldnt be in this panic to focusing on only filling the potential claim potholes.

[PaulEden]

Gah! I tried to merge the two pothole threads together and sort of got them back to front so that the first topic now has the title of the newest one, that only has two posts. Sorry about that.

[David P]

Sent: 06 April 2010 17:47
Subject: From the Office of Cheryl Gillan MP - Station Road Amersham to be resurfaced


Hi from our MP, SPREAD THE WORD


ROAD RESURFACING

From Monday 19^th April for five working days, Station Road, Amersham is to be completely resurfaced. Teams will be working from 9.30 am - 4.00 pm.

The following week from Monday 26^th April the four roundabouts at the top and bottom of Station Road will be resurfaced by teams working overnight starting at 8 pm until completed.

This is part of the work of Buckinghamshire County Council to repair the roads following the worst winter weather for over 30 years.



This email has been sent at the request of Cheryl Gillan MP using the facilities of the Chesham & Amersham Conservative Office at no cost to the taxpayer. If you do not wish to receive such information, please reply with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. Thank you.



Philip Dumville

Agent


www.cheshamandamershamconservatives.com

[David P]

Why do they have to stop at 4:00pm?
Why can't they do it overnight?
Why do they have to do it all when some of it is still OK?
I hope they use a decent contractor.
Who's paying for all this?
This is going to cause no end of delays.
This is going to mean I can't get my car out.
I bet it will all break up again next winter.
They should be using at least 6 inches of hardcore foundation.
They should do the roundabouts first.
Why can't Cheryl Gillan send her own emails?
Are you sure this was at no cost to the taxpayer?

Just thought I'd get all the complaints in first before everyone else starts. Hopefully I've covered them all (though I doubt it) and we can all applaud the good news (though I doubt that too).

[Fran]

From Monday 19^th April for five working days, Station Road, Amersham is to be completely resurfaced. Teams will be working from 9.30 am - 4.00 pm.

Hooray. Thanks for posting that, David. It will have been a long wait, but as they will be resurfacing it properly, rather than just patching it, it should be worth waiting for (and the inevitable short term hassles with the traffic).

Just thought I'd get all the complaints in first before everyone else starts.

[hyposmurf]

Just thought I'd get all the complaints in first before everyone else starts.

They resurfaced moor rd in Chesham, but only a small part,the rest of it is still in poor condition.Quite laughable really why they bothered.The only part resurfaced is outside the Council open air swimming pool.Hopefully theyll make a better job or Staton Rd

[David P]

Just thought I'd get all the complaints in first before everyone else starts. Hopefully I've covered them all (though I doubt it) and we can all applaud the good news (though I doubt that too).

My doubts were justified.