I recently witnessed the work of Gloucestershire Highways’ brand-new Pothole Pro machine repairing the road in Nass Lane between Quedgley and Brookthorpe thanks to extra government cash.
I was joined by councillor Dom Morris, the county council’s cabinet member for highways on the visit.
The council is trialling the Pothole Pro to help address the on-going issue of potholes and to make roads safer for use.
Millions of extra government funding and extra cash from the county council has been earmarked to fix local roads with Siobhan working with the council to prioritise what roads in Stroud district need attention. This means more than £1 million has already been spent resurfacing the A4135 Dursley Road Cam, A419 Bristol Road, Stonehouse and the Main Road in Ruscombe.
Potholes are one of residents’ top concerns here in Stroud district so I have lobbied on this a lot. I am really pleased to see Gloucestershire Highways is doing even more to fix the roads to make them safer and smoother with this impressive piece of new kit. The county council and the government are serious about this. Our roads need repairing for use across the district and it’s a big job because the weather over the last year or two has not helped.
I work closely with highways and my councillor colleagues to make sure problems are known to them but residents can go online and use the Fix My Street website to tell the council about problems. It is vital we put money into fixing potholes. Local people raise this a lot so I am pleased that I was able to see the machinery and meet the experts who are getting the job done quickly and to a high standard.
Dom Morris said: "Since I was put in charge of Highways, Siobhan's input has been absolutely essential in transforming our roads across Gloucestershire and in Stroud in particular. Bringing in the JCB Pothole Pro is just the next step on our transformation journey. We've resurfaced nearly 220 roads, launched all sorts of trials and innovations and put poorly performing utility companies on improvement plans. Most recently we've launched Fix My Street to provide members of the public with a one stop shop to tell us what needs fixing and where.”
Residents can identify potholes at: https://fixmystreet.gloucestershire.gov.uk/
