Member Article

Velocity's call for councils to act fast

Road preservation experts Velocity are calling on more local authorities to take preventative measures to stop Britain’s pothole backlog increasing in the face of ever-reducing council budgets.

Part of the Newcastle-based Reece Group of Companies, Velocity repaired 250,000 potholes across the UK last year – more than 10% of the total repairs – while carrying out maintenance work to prevent many more potholes forming in future.

Now, in the wake of shocking new figures about the state of North East roads, the Sunderland-based industry leaders want more councils to take action to preserve their highways networks while taking new steps to cut the pothole backlog.

Figures supplied by councils in the region show that there are more than 80,000 potholes on the 10,000 miles of road in the North East … an increase of 29% on the year before.

Each council would need to spend nearly £40m to completely repair their roads, which would take an estimated 11 years at current levels of repair.

While the government says it has given councils more than £3bn to maintain roads, the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) says local authorities may need as much as £10.5bn to restore the country’s “crumbling roads”.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Dominic Gardner, managing director of Velocity. “Pothole numbers are increasing at a time when council budgets are being dramatically reduced.

“We have every sympathy with the authorities who are trying to deal with what is undoubtedly a massive headache, while the government’s hands are tied due to austerity measures.

“But the road network is this country’s biggest asset so it’s vital that we all do everything we can to maintain it and ensure it does not continue to deteriorate.

“There is no magic wand but our message to highways authorities is that we are here to help. We repaired more than 10% of the UK’s 2.2 million pothole repairs in 2012 – but we can do much more.

“There is now an urgent need not only to get to grips with the existing pothole backlog but to take preventative measures to ensure tomorrow’s potential potholes don’t form.”

Capable of repairing up to 150 potholes per day at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods, Velocity’s self-contained machines carry all the necessary equipment and materials to repair potholes and other road defects.

Velocity’s expertise has been utilised by highways authorities in Kent, Cheshire and Essex over the past 12 months, with their specialist machines and highly-skilled three-man crews making a huge impact on the condition of the highways network in all three counties.

Mr Gardner added: “Velocity can help reduce the backlog with a combination of permanent repairs and preventative programmes that have helped bring the highways networks of Kent, Essex and Cheshire up to standard.”

“It’s essential that authorities not only find ways to reduce the existing backlog but that they also pick up the smaller defects before they turn into larger defects that ultimately become next year’s potholes. What is key is that they take preventative measure to stop water seeping into small defects that will increase in size when the water freezes next winter.

“We are now an essential component in the road maintenance toolbox. Where once we would be called upon to do a week of work here and a week of work there, there’s now a growing demand to secure our expertise on long-term projects.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dave Allan Communications .