Anger over the state of Melksham’s roads

ANGER is mounting in the town over the state of Melksham’s roads and the growing number of dangerous potholes.

The issue was aggravated by the wet winter and now there have been calls for Wiltshire Council to act. There are also concerns that Wiltshire Council have ‘cut corners’ with temporary repairs that only last a few days.

Motorists and cyclists have told the Melksham News that potholes should be made a priority around the town. Dan Winters said, “It has really has got to a terrible state. It’s a huge problem around Wiltshire but in Melksham it seems worse than most places. The entrance to the Market Place has become so bad I have to crawl into the car park at slow speeds. Something needs to be done!”

Bob Denton agrees. He said, “This is nothing new really. Over recent years the state of the roads around here have got worse and worse. I dread to think how much extra wear and tear is on my car because of the poor quality of roads.”

Wiltshire Council had 40 percent more potholes reported in the first two months of 2014 compared to 2013. This equates to more than 2,600 carriageway defects compared to around 1,900 last year. This led to the council investing an extra £250,000 at the start of 2014 to combat the problem.

But Wiltshire councillor Terry Chivers says he believes that Wiltshire Council cut corners when trying to fix the potholes. He said, “I’m receiving complaints that these temporary repairs are only lasting a few days and often only a few hours. It seems to me and to most people, that it must be much easier and cheaper to do a proper job than bodge it.

“Recently I have received complaints that jobs have been bodged, at Challeymead, and on the Western Way, Melksham.”

There is some good news on the horizon, though, after Wiltshire Council was awarded an extra £3million to repair potholes. This is part of the £168million Pothole Repair Fund the government has allocated towards fixing more than three million potholes across the UK to make roads safer and smoother for motorists, cyclists and other road users.

However, the priorities for pothole repair have not yet been set and so it is unclear if Melksham will be benefitting from the Pothole Repair Fund.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council said, “This money will be used to repair and resurface the worst affected stretches of road. Wiltshire Council are spending a huge amount of money on roads but the full programme for this has not yet been set. If members of the public want to report a pothole or bad stretch of road they can call the highways/street care line on 03004560105 or email localhighways@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Road rescue company LV, recently revealed that almost 25,000 roadworks are incomplete in the UK. This follows surveys carried out with local authorities of which 91 responded. However, Wiltshire Council did not respond to the request for information.