Redlands Liberal Democrats: Prospect of Erleigh Roads resurfacting

At the last full Council meeting I asked if Erleigh Road would ever be resurfaced. This comes after several comments from residents on the subject and the fact that the pot holes are making it a difficult road to cycle down. It's also been pointed out that the original tram lines are still under the current road!

I had the following answer from our new Lead Councillor for Strategic Planning and Transport:

"Due to limited funding for carriageway resurfacing it is necessary to prioritise schemes based on nationally accepted technical assessment processes.

The annual programme for resurfacing of classified roads is prioritised after assessment of carriageways using information from deflectograph surveys, which checks the structural integrity and residual life of existing carriageways. This identifies those roads with a poor residual life and based on these results a list of priority schemes is produced each year.

Erleigh Road is a classified road (C road) and as such receives an annual deflectograph condition survey. The survey carried out in 2009 on Erleigh Road did not identify this road as a priority site for treatment this year.

This year’s deflectograph surveys are scheduled to take place in September/October. If following the survey Erleigh Road were identified as a road with poor residual life then it would be considered for resurfacing in 2011/2012 subject to available funding.

There is also a quarterly safety inspection of Erleigh Road. This would identify any defects that require localised remedial works e.g. patching. Where these are noted patching work is carried out. The last inspection in March 2010 identified a number of areas where patching was required and these have now been repaired.

In the current economic climate, with the new Government addressing the massive deficit left by the outgoing Labour administration, it is unlikely that there will be any addition funds for highway repairs."

I'd say that filling in the pot holes is a good start, but this is no real solution. Unfortunately, the Coalition have inherited Labours system which had limited funding for fixing B and C roads. In addition, nationally Labour left the countries finances in sorry state... So I honestly can't see this happening any time soon.

One ray of light is that the Lead Councillor said he'd look into expanding the Readings cycle route network to include Erleigh Road. This would be very handy to encourage the student population to cycle rather than drive.