THE SCALE OF the problem with potholes in Thurrock has been revealed in a latest performance report by Thurrock Council.
The report was put in front of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday night.
It will show the measure of the task a council has in achieving its pledge of being pothole free by 2018.
Under the new pass or fail system, the council has rated itself as “Fail” when it comes to “repairing potholes within agreed timeframe”.
Thurrock Council has offered the following explanation: “This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) measures the proportion of potholes requiring intervention which are filled within three working days. (It does not include non-intervention potholes filled as part of the ‘Clean It, Cut It, Fill it’ campaign).
301 potholes were filled during this period, of which 22 were not filled within the three day timescale.
Of these 22, four were missed in October, four in November and 14 in December.
The increased number of potholes not filled within three days in December was the result of difficulties in obtaining supplies during Christmas shut-down period and staff being required to undertake gritting runs.
“Going forward, additional resource has been identified for this work, including the services of the scheduler to ensure that work tickets are processed within policy target. Outturns will be scrutinised on a weekly basis to ensure improvements for next quarter”.
It is never going to be easy, I have no sympathy, but I can see not getting out and completing works before Xmas, instead of letting things run into the holiday period is your own failing, has caused you problems, so why not use cut back materials through the holiday period to temporary fill urgent potholes.
Also blaming gritting runs for causing a shortfall in resources, to be honest the mildest winter for many a year, so I only see minimal effect here.
Potholes by their nature are forever evolving and for anyone to make a statement of pothole free by 2018 is foolhardy a promise that I doubt will ever be kept, if it does TBC have enough funding to achieve it.
These promises don’t come cheap as it will be eyes to the ground 24 hours a day with maintenance crews working in the days following to achieve closure on the potholes.
ONE GOOD THING you are only answerable to yourselves and your KPI register.
Think how much harder it would be if you were tied into a Highways England prize or penalty contract.