Published The Extra On Line -

By Dawn Renton
Published: 07:27 Thursday 28 February 2019

Drivers given a bumby ride over potholes

More than £480,000 was spent on repairing potholes in East Renfrewshire in 2017/18.

New Freedom of Information data obtained by Confused.com revealed motorists have been given quite the bumpy ride with 13,470 potholes reported in one year.

East Renfrewshire has the third biggest pothole problem of the top five local authority areas in Scotland with the biggest pothole problem, with the total depth stretching to 539m deep – that’s 3.1 times the depth of the English Channel or the same height as 359 cars!

It’s not all bad news, the local authority is the only one in the top five not to have had to pay out compensation to motorists.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: “The number of potholes reported in the UK has increased by two per cent in the last year, and it’s a battle councils continue to fight.

“If motorists come across a pothole they should report it to their local authority before it gets any worse.”

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “We carry out routine safety inspections of our roads and any safety issues, including potholes, are recorded and repairs scheduled.

“Our safety inspections are carried out regularly in accordance with our standard procedures.

“We aim to keep our roads as safe as possible for everyone in East Renfrewshire. We encourage all residents to report any potholes through our online form that can be found on the Council website.”

----Original message----
Date : 03/03/2019 - 12:55 (GMT)
To : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Subject : Re: RE: 1914513/116986 - Cllr Miller - Pothole Repairs Viaduct Rd, Linwood Abenue, Overlee Road

Hi

Thanks for this.

What will this 'some more repair work' involve in Viaduct Rd?

In the Budget just announced - '£15m of new money over the next five years to improve roads infrastructure'

When will this money be available to Roads?

How will it be used?

What will it be allocated to?

Is there a timescale for spending this money?

Thanks

------ Original Message ------
From: "*Roads" <* This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Sent: Friday, 8 Mar, 2019 At 14:26


Thank you for your email of 3rd March 2019 regarding the pothole repairs in Viaduct Road and the additional money allocated to improve roads infrastructure.

The repairs in Viaduct Road will consist of patch repairs to the areas where previous infilling has failed and any new potholes identified since those repairs were undertaken will also be repaired.

With regards to the additional £15m recently allocated this money will become available in financial year 2019/20 for 5 years i.e. up to and including financial year 23/24, approximately £3m per year.

The money will be used to improve our public roads infrastructure and we are in the process of prioritising schemes for inclusion in financial year 19/20.

The prioritisation of schemes considers the traffic volumes/speed of traffic on the route as well as its condition.

Regards
Jane
Jane Corrie
Roads & Transportation Controller
East Renfrewshire Council
Unit 2 Spiersbridge Business Park
Thornliebank
G46 8NG

Published Barrhead News On Line 14/3/2019 -

9 hrs ago

By Pippa Smith Reporter

Demand for action over potholes and ‘sinking’ roads in Uplawmoor

VILLAGERS are calling for urgent repairs to be made on the main road through Uplawmoor.

The road connecting Uplawmoor and Neilston has fallen into disrepair, causing it to ‘slowly sink’ and ‘misshape’.

And the village’s community council is calling for it to be fixed.

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesman confirmed inspectors had been out to check a problem pothole on a ‘dangerous blind bend’ and the work has been completed on this.

READ MORE: Discovery of ‘hazardous’ tar sends pothole repair plan into meltdown

But Ross Leggat, Uplawmoor Community Council’s secretary, said the majority of the village’s main road still has potholes which need to be addressed.

He explained: “The pothole going out of Uplawmoor was a pothole that was an issue.

“They have patched it, and credit is due where credit is due, but the rest of the main road has a lot of potholes.

“We are still trying to pursue them with the whole road and we are also targeting all the roads in general now because, when the A736 is shut, all the traffic gets diverted through the village and the patches they have done are really not of brilliant quality.

“Another thing we are also trying to target is the potholes through the woods towards Neilston.

The road is actually sinking. You can see the stretch marks on the tarmac.”

Paul Masterton MP added local roads are in ‘desperate need’ of investment.

He said: “The state of some of the potholes in Uplawmoor really has to be seen to be believed, and the Community Council is quite right to demand the council take some proper long-term action.

“We desperately need serious investment in local roads, especially in rural parts of East Renfrewshire.”

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesperson, said: “We carry out routine safety inspections of our roads and any safety issues, including potholes, are recorded and repairs scheduled.

“Our safety inspections are carried out regularly in accordance with our standard procedures.

Our maintenance team carried out repair work in Uplawmoor and we encourage all residents to report any other matters through our online form.”

ERC have now admitted Viaduct Road is beyond repair !!

------ Original Message ------
From: "*Roads" <* This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Sent: Thursday, 18 Apr, 2019 At 14:34
Subject: FW: 1926613 - Viaduct Road Repairs

My apologies for not responding to you sooner regarding this matter, I was awaiting feedback from our technical officer who I had asked to visit the site and give me his input.

As you are aware there are sections of Viaduct Road which have been patch repaired several times over the last few years and the condition of some areas are now beyond patching and they require to be resurfaced.

This is the case with many of our roads.

It is difficult to affect satisfactory long lasting repairs when roads are in this condition and even cut out repairs are unlikely to last for a long period given that there is no suitable surface to achieve a solid bond with and in cases such as these infill repairs are often the best solution pending full resurfacing.

As you are aware additional capital funding has been made available for road improvements over the next 5 years and whilst not included in our programme of works for financial year 19/20 I am confident that Viaduct Road will be included for resurfacing work in a future years programme.

Until such time we will continue to monitor its condition during routine safety inspections and repairs of any safety defects will be instructed as required, depending on the location and condition of the surrounding surface this may be cut out or infill repairs as directed by our technical staff.

I trust this explains the situation fully, should you require any further information please let me know,

Regards
Jane Corrie
Roads & Transportation Controller
East Renfrewshire Council
Unit 2 Spiersbridge Business Park
Thornliebank
G46 8NG

Current position as at 07/08/2019 -

------ Original Message ------
From: "*Roads" <* This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Cc: "Lafferty, A (Cllr)" < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; "Miller, Stewart (Cllr)" < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Sent: Wednesday, 7 Aug, 2019 At 17:14
Subject: FW: Mail Ref 118395 : Viaduct Road Repairs (also Cllr Lafferty 2038735/118396)

At present the position of these roads on our priority list is as follows:-

Viaduct Rd – 59,

Overlee Rd – 70

Linwood Avenue – 218

As indicated previously it is very likely that Viaduct Rd will be included in a surfacing programme within the next 3 years dependent upon other competing priorities and budget allocations and similarly Overlee Rd may also be resurfaced within the next 5 years.

It is unlikely given its current position that Linwood Avenue would be resurfaced for some time.

Of course positions on this priority list can change dependent upon their condition and the condition of other roads which may deteriorate more rapidly than expected and become a higher priority and therefore I cannot give any guarantee that these roads will be resurfaced in a particular year.

The programme for the financial year ahead is finalised in Feb/March when roads are inspected again and positions are confirmed when we can assess what further damage, if any the winter weather has caused.

All of these roads were last inspected on 24th July 2019 and repairs were carried out to safety defects on Linwood Rd and Viaduct Rd on 26th and 29th July 2019. Routine inspection of these roads will continue and any safety defects will be repaired as required.

Regards
Jane Corrie
Roads & Transportation Controller
East Renfrewshire Council
Unit 2 Spiersbridge Business Park
Thornliebank
G46 8NG