Pothole bosses have 'no understanding' of Sheffield’s roads despite 'best in UK' claim
“The roads in Sheffield are significantly better than the vast majority of local authorities in the UK”
Pothole bosses were accused of having “no understanding” of the state of Sheffield’s roads after claiming they were among the best in the country.
Amey managers said one per cent of ‘A’ roads in the city needed “intervention” compared to five per cent nationally, and a target of having just two potholes per mile had been hit a month early.
They also said more than 3,000 ‘category one’ hazardous defects last winter had fallen to 120 “in the system” today.
Peter Bamfield, Amey business director, said: “The roads in Sheffield are significantly better than the vast majority of local authorities in the UK.”
Amey has a £2.2bn PFI contract with Sheffield City Council that runs until 2037.
The pothole figures were discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the environmental services and regulation policy committee at Sheffield Town Hall to review pothole repairs.
The numbers were met with scepticism from a member of the public, Seb Schmoller, who said Spencer Road in Heeley was “lethal for cyclists”.
He added: “There is no sense of understanding of what roads are like for users on two wheels.”
The meeting also heard Amey did not have a target for how long a pothole repair should last.
And it had only started applying a permanent seal to every category one repair in June.
Coun Sean Maloney said: “Are we measuring the right things? How long a repair should last comes up all the time.”
He added: “Someone negotiated a damn good contract for that not to be in.”
Coun Mark Rusling replied: “If we were doing it now it would be in there.”
Coun Tim Huggan said not using a permanent seal on repairs was “incomprehensible.”
Amey has been in the spotlight since record breaking rain in January and February sparked an avalanche of complaints about potholes.
Bosses said repair capacity this winter would be double that of last year, with eight gangs of up to eight people fixing larger areas.
They also explained that work gangs might repair one pothole but leave one adjacent - a common complaint - because they were trained to tackle only the worst before quickly moving on.
The meeting saw the launch of a 14 point plan to “support the repair of potholes, establish clearer communication channels, improve the customer experience and rebuild trust and confidence with the public through a more co-ordinated, transparent and responsive approach”.
Ending the PFI contract earlier was also considered but Amey had not reached the threshold that would enable “termination for performance reasons,” the meeting heard.
Coun Mark Rusling said: “To some extent we are stuck with it.”