Potty council rules mean potholes are being ignored in Kent

POTTY council pothole rules could mean huge craters are left in roads – even if others on the same stretch are filled.

New Tunbridge Wells borough councillor for Pantiles and St Marks, Lawrence Heasman, said Kent County Council told him it will only fix potholes that are reported.

It means that if more craters appear on the same street they will only be fixed if a member of the public has logged them.

Mr Heasman said the state of the roads was a big issue across the borough and believes the public do not realise the arcane rules about reporting them.

He said: "I'm pretty sure people are not aware they need to register each pothole," Mr Heasman said.

"I want to find out whether they send out teams to assess them and then contractors or whether they fill them in.

"What I have observed is that it seems to be a pretty hit and miss affair.

"One of the things I have on my to-do list is to find out how that happens.

"I'm fairly certain that if members of the public had potholes outside on their street and reported them that the number of circumstances would stack up and would cause KCC to start taking note and getting contractors to start filling them in."

On the road in Broadmead over a 100-metre stretch including the junction to Showfields Road and Surrey Close there were no less than 19 potholes, with only about three or four that had been filled in.

"As Broadmead is a bus route down into Showfields Road, it gets a lot of traffic. It is quite possible that holes have been reported, but get truncated as being one event if reported by phone.

"If a streetlight outside your house goes out, you can go online and report the number it is registered as.

"You can't do the same with potholes."

A spokesman for KCC said the council is keen to encourage residents to log potholes online in order to get an accurate idea of where they are.

Bus driver Mark Willmott, of Bidborough Ridge, is concerned that a failure to fix potholes is putting lives at risk due to a failure of the council to take urgent action.

"There is a pothole on London Road just round the corner from my house," Mr Willmott said. "I've reported it to Kent County Council every week.

"I ring up and tell them about it and it's always planned for next week.

"It is supposed to be repaired next Tuesday. This has been going on since the end of April. If someone goes through that pot-hole which is on the edge of a manhole cover, especially a motor cyclist in the dark or rain, they could be killed."

A Kent County Council spokesman said: "In order to help us maintain the roads, residents are asked to report potholes and other faults on line at www.kent.gov.uk/highways, where details can be easily uploaded, locations pinpointed on an interactive map, and progress of the repair followed. In the event of an emergency, residents should call 03000 41 81 81."

He added that new measures such as sealing roads with surface treatments, such as a stone and asphalt layer, meant the craters were less likely to appear.