Fresh hope for Moor Lane resurfacing?

Councillor Stephen Fenton has welcomed news which suggests that much-needed resurfacing work on Moor Lane in Woodthorpe may be undertaken in the 2023/24 financial year.

The road surface on Moor Lane – between Cairnborrow and Eden Close in particular – has continued to deteriorate rapidly, posing a hazard for motorists and cyclists. Some potholes have been filled, but others invariably appear and the surface is now a badly rutted patchwork.

Stephen has received an e-mail from the council’s Highways team (copied below) which offers some hope that resurfacing works will be undertaken.

“We are recommending that sections of this road will be considered for resurfacing in the 2023-24 financial year. However, it should be noted that we are concerned in regards to this particular asset in terms of the construction itself and any surfacing will be subject to further engineering investigation. There are clues in the name of some of the roads in the locality (Moor Lane, Bog Lane etc) and the engineering investigation works will allow us to better understand the ground conditions to ensure we have an effective solution; in other words we believe that there may be subsurface and original design/construction issues which are compounding the surface issue and we wouldn’t want to just add another surface layer without at least fully understanding all of the issues and ensuring value for money. Obviously in the meantime we will continue our inspections and make good defects in accordance with our Highways Safety Inspection Manual.”

Winter weather impacts on road surfaces

The winter weather has taken its toll on a number of local roads, where potholes and deteriorating road surfaces present a hazard to all road users.

Local councillors are lobbying the council’s Highways team to fill in the multiple potholes that have appeared on Alness Drive after an initial response stated ‘no action required.’ Some potholes have since been marked for repair, but others have not.

It is a similar story on Moor Lane between Cairnborrow and Eden Close, where there has been a dramatic deterioration in the road surface over recent months. As well as potholes, large sections of the highway previously ‘surface dressed’ have crumbled, leading to a thick layer of debris accumulating by the kerbside. This poses a particular hazard for cyclists.

Moor Lane potholes and crumbling road surfaces

Councillors will continue to undertake regular inspections of roads and footpaths and report repairs where they are needed. We would encourage residents to notify us of any we may have missed.

Resurfacing work progresses

The good weather has allowed the crews to make good progress with the resurfacing work on Tadcaster Road.

We await proposals from council officers about how they plan to take the opportunity to improve safety for cyclists when the road markings are reinstated.

Some much-needed large patching has also been done on Hob Moor Terrace.

Councillors take action on potholes

The wet and freezing weather has taken its toll on some local roads, with potholes appearing at a number of locations.

Local Lib Dem councillors have been out and about to check the condition of the roads, and have reported a number of potholes for repair at locations including Alness Drive, Wains Road, Tadcaster Road and Sherringham Drive.

We will chase these up to ensure that repairs are carried out promptly. If we have missed any potholes in need of repair, please contact Cllr Stephen Fenton at cllr.sfenton@york.gov.uk

Pothole blitz underway

We have reported a number of potholes across the ward that need filling in, most of which have now been logged for action by the council.

We are keen to get this work done before the winter frost and ice sets in, which tends to make already weak road surfaces even weaker and leads to further erosion. The potholes to be filled in are listed below. Others have reported and we await confirmation that they will be fixed also.

There are a number of streets in the ward that are in desperate need of resurfacing or large patching, including West Thorpe, The Horseshoe and Hillcrest Gardens.

Action on street-level issues

We recently posted an article about a number of local issues in need of attention. We’re pleased to report that there has been progress in getting them fixed…..

Tree roots had caused the footpath on Silverdale Court to lift and crack in a couple of places, causing a trip hazard. These have now been fixed.

Repaired footpath on Silverdale Court

On Tadcaster Road the footpath was badly potholed at the entrance to the Texaco garage / Co-op. Although it is still something of a patchwork, the worst potholes have now been filled in.

Tadcaster Road footpath repaired

On Wharfe Drive a large pothole had appeared and the road was subsiding towards the kerb, causing large pools of water to collect. This meant that in wet weather, anyone unlucky enough to be walking along when a car passed got a drenching. This has now been fixed.

Wharfe Drive repaired

We are asking when the snicket barriers at the top of Carrfield are going to get a much-needed lick of paint. Funds to pay for this have been identified and approved from the 2015/16 Ward Budget.

Carrfield snicket barrier

Labour cut number of staff working on highways repairs by 39%

The number of Council staff working on repairing York’s footpaths and roads has dropped from 59 in 2011 to 35 today. Some of the work is, of course, undertaken by contractors.

The cuts reflect a 25% reduction in the investment being made in resurfacing the City’s highways.

During 2012 and 2013 the Labour administration cut highways repairs expenditure by around 50%. It is still not back to the level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration in 2011.

The highways repairs budget is down from £5.1 million in 2011 to only £3.8 million for 2015.

There have, however, been increases in the amounts being spent on street lighting and drainage.

Expenditure of £1.2 million on new street lights in 2012, however, did not produce the savings in running costs – or reliability – that were expected.

The day to day running costs of lighting actually increased in 2013, while fault reports also remain high.

A copy of the spreadsheet, which also details the mileage of road that has been resurfaced each year, can be found by clicking here.

York gets extra £311,253 to fill in 5000 potholes

Click to access interactive map

The coalition government has allocated York over £300,000 to deal with some of the potholes that blight local roads.

It is estimated that this will allow around 5000 holes to be filled in.

The money is in addition to the £245,719 allocated earlier in the year to repair the worse ravages of the winter weather.

However the central government initiative will do little to address the backlog in highways repairs which has built up over the last two financial years following a decision by the local York Council Labour Leadership to lop a total of £4 million from the highways budgets.

The potholes represents a particular risk for cyclists with highway margin work (the 1 metre band near the highway kerbside) having been given a low priority by the Council over the last 3 years.

Some road humps are also in a particularly poor condition and represent a hazard for all road users.

Potholes on increase

Despite a relatively mild winter, the number of potholes appearing on local roads continues to increase.

In the main this is a result of major cuts to maintenance investment implemented by the new Labour administration when they took office in 2011.

City of York Council		Road repairs expenditure
Year	Pothole reports	Resurfacing	Basic maintenance	Total
2012/13	2492	£1,570,000	£616,700	£2,186,700
2011/12	1566	£2,134,000	£877,200	£3,011,200
2010/11	2860	£1,706,000	£1,008,000	£2,714,000
2009/10	966	£1,604,000	£1,096,000	£2,700,000

The York Council will in 2014/15 return to its pre 2011 levels of investment, but for many roads the change will come too late. A poorly maintained highway costs much more to repair than one that has had some routine maintenance.

We believe that the Council should use the £1.3 million, that it has raised by fining drivers on Lendal and Coppergate, on dealing with the repairs backlog.

Action to improve service standards in Chaloners area

Fly tipping

Tree detritus on Chaloners Road

Damaged verges

Dog fouling on snickets

Leeside footpath crumbling

North Lane pothole

Following a growth in complains about public service standards in part of Dringhouses a major push for improvements has started.

Ann Reid and the Liberal Democrat team have been out and about and have reported over 20 issues for Council attention.

Let us know if you have similar problems in your area.

The major problems concerned, dumping, dog fouling, vandalism, potholes, damaged signs and weed growth

Cllr Stephen Fenton, Cllr Ashley Mason & Cllr Paula Widdowson

Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Liberal Democrats