YEARS OF NEGLECT ON KENT'S ROADS

12.00.00am GMT Mon 2nd Mar 2009

funding for road maintenance .... not just a quick fix in advance of the elections

Letter to the Editor, Kent Messenger (02.03.09.)

Dear Sir,

I agree that the numbers of potholes reported in January, more than double the normal figure, was partly a result of the big freeze (KM, Feb 27th). However the recent snow and ice simply showed up the problem of years of neglect on Kent's roads.

KCC has admitted that at the current rate of spending, each pavement has to last 226 years, and each drain over 300 years before they can be replaced. Roads have to last indefinitely as KCC is not spending enough to prevent the backlog growing ever larger! We have six times as many pavements in poor repair as Berkshire. Backlogs of those huge proportions do not build up just because of one spell of snow!

Over decades there has been a KCC policy of hurried patching where the black top is shovelled into the hole but not bonded into place. So, as soon as the rain, or even worse, the ice, gets into the join, the fill material lifts out again. Potholes in Offham Road, West Malling were filled last July, and again in February and are still awaiting a permanent repair. Similarly the drains which flooded More Park School in February were reported in July, and August last year and January and February this year. These are not isolated examples.

This year for the first time KCC is choosing to add Kent Council Tax payers' money to Government funding for road maintenance which has remained static for many years. But this will leave drivers whose cars have been damaged, and residents who have suffered falls, or flooded homes wondering why they have waited so long for this benefit, and whether this time their money will be used to achieve a proper job not just a quick fix in advance of the elections..

Trudy Dean

Leader Liberal Democrat Group

Kent County Council.