Residents force Hampshire County Council apology over 'poor' pothole patching

AN apology has been issued by Hampshire County Council after pothole repairs were so poor, they left a retired health and safety inspector “incensed”.

Andy Whitaker, who lives in Gainsborough Avenue, New Milton, was outraged by work to repair 10 potholes on his street last week.

“I don’t get heated about these sorts of things that often but I was incensed by this,” the 66-year-old told the A&T. “It looks terrible. One of the neighbours was so upset she was almost in tears.

“Basically the repairs were leaking liquid bitumen all over the road and there were loose chippings, so if you drove on the road, the tyres would pick them up and spread them all around.”

As a result, the chippings ended up on residents’ driveways, which needed sweeping every morning for days afterwards, said Mr Whitaker.

“In addition to the vehicle tyres, pedestrians pick this up on their shoes and tread it into their properties,” he added. “This is totally unacceptable.”

He questioned whether the workers had been using a new method for fixing the potholes and said he had raised the issue with the New Milton Residents Association.

Mr Whitaker also said HCC workers returned to the site this week to clean up, but he was not best pleased at their efforts.

“They sent a road sweeper to the road to clear it of the loose material and he went up and down numerous times,” he revealed. “Unfortunately he concentrated his efforts only to the centre of the road – and didn't make that good a job of that.”

Cllr Rob Humby, the cabinet member for environment and transport, conceded the restoration work did “not reflect” the usual quality.

“We like to embrace new, innovative, ways of maintaining the highway to ensure that we look after Hampshire’s roads effectively while providing value for money, and, in this case, a patching machine was being used,” he said.

“It appears that the material used in these repairs at this site failed to set properly and the road was left in an unsatisfactory condition.”

Cllr Humby added: “We haven’t had any reports of similar problems at other sites.”

He said HCC’s highways team had responded directly to residents who expressed concerns. “They will return as quickly as possible to clean the area and ensure excess material is swept away,” he said.

“I would like to apologise for any disruption this has caused local residents. I have asked for a further investigation to be carried out to look into this matter.”