Highways chief blames contractor for Dysart Road pothole failures

The County Councillor in charge of Highways has apologised after several postponements to pothole repairs under Dysart Road Bridge.

There have been a number of delays in carrying out the work including twice in the past month.

Coun Richard Davies, who represents Grantham North-West, said yesterday: “We’re sorry for the lack of progress with these works and we will get this resolved.”

He also pledged to get tough with the contractor.

He said: “The works under the railway bridge on Dysart Road present a particularly difficult set of challenges to overcome because of the site’s location under a Network Rail bridge.

“The delays that have happened were caused mainly due to traffic management issues – part of which included the need for the traffic signals to be switched-off during the road’s quietest time.

“Availability of resource has also been an issue for our contractor. After undertaking an intensive recruitment drive, the available labour resource is now back up to full strength with the result being that works are catching up.

“However, these factors are generally of no concern for our residents in this matter – and neither should they be.

“What we always aim to do for the residents is deliver every highways job when we say we will and to the best possible standard.

“In terms of this individual job, our local highways teams were assured the works would be completed on Sunday, February 13. Apparently, there were further issues over the weekend which meant that the works gang weren’t able to complete the repairs.

“I’ve made it very clear that this is unacceptable. I have also expressed my view that I expect the works to now be given the highest priority for completion. We are also undertaking a full review of processes with our partners on these more complex sites to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

“Whatever the hurdles at this particular site may have been, I’ve made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the potholes should have been filled before Christmas and that there will be serious consequences if a repeat of this delay happens again.

“Sorry – it’s not such a difficult repair!”