An Ealing Liberal Democrat councillor has challenged Labour-run Ealing Council to better improve the way it fixes potholes and other dangers on roads.
Lib Dem Southfield Councillor Gary Busuttil is a vocal critic of the council’s way it fixes roads that he says on some of them it would be more efficient and save money to resurface a road instead of constantly patching them up.
According to the LibDems, one road, Fletcher Road in the Southfield ward has been patched up 20 times and is now finally set to be resurfaced.
Councillor Gary Busuttil said: “Liberal Democrats believe that many of the patch repairs made to our streets are wasteful as they are very expensive, when resurfacing a whole street could be less costly in the long run.”
He added: “It is great that Fletcher Road will be resurfaced but we have heard the complaints to the Labour-run Ealing Council for years. If they had resurfaced the street a few years ago a lot of money could have been saved. Liberal Democrats want to see our Council Taxes spent more efficiently and in a way that delivers safe streets.”
In a letter to local people in Fletcher Road, Ealing Council said of the works which are set to be started this month: “We are pleased to inform you that as part of a £6.25m funding allocation, Ealing Council will be improving your road using a specialist material known as micro-surfacing. It is laid on top of the existing surface to seal and protect it from further deterioration. It can take a number of months to wear in, but the appearance will start to change as soon as traffic uses the road.”
The council added: “Your street is one of nearly 30 streets within a borough wide programme and these schemes will be delivered by our term contractor Murrill Construction Ltd with micro-surfacing laid by Eurovia Specialist Treatments. The very nature of our work can be disruptive, but we will aim to minimise disruption as much as possible. A location plan showing the extent of works is shown at the end of this letter.
An Ealing Council spokesperson told EALING.NEWS: “We have committed to spending £25m on a 4 year programme of improving our roads and pavements. Last year we spent £6.25m, resurfacing around 80 roads and pavements, with more to come. Fletcher Road is part of this years programme for resurfacing.
“We prioritise roads for resurfacing by commissioning an annual independent survey of the condition all roads in the borough to identify those most in need, of within the funding available.
“When we fill potholes, like on Fletcher Road, the structural integrity of the road is maintained and it can be added to the resurfacing programme in future years where the independent assessment highlights a need.
“Unlike councils in the rest of the country, councils in London don’t get dedicated government funding to spend on maintaining our roads. This is an issue Councillor Deirdre Costigan, cabinet member for climate change, has raised with the Government.”
