Letter: “Pot hole proliferation on New Forest a nightmare for councils.”

One of our local authorities’ nightmare scenarios is pot hole proliferation in our local roads and how best to repair them quickly.

Causation, inadequate central government funding over recent years means there is no quick fix and despite using so called new technology in recent years the problem is not resolved.

New technology of quickly blasting tarmac into a hole may at first sight seem an effective repair method. I question this assumption. Many of the holes repaired this way are reappearing as the new repair breaks up.

Also, this repair method often does not produce a level and smooth surface. At best it stops a mighty thud when a wheel strikes a hole but repeated compression by wheel and tyre inevitably accelerates subsequent decay of the part repair.

Our increasingly wet winters undermine road surfaces causing slips, cracks and pot holes especially on B roads where foundations were never designed to take the growing weight of traffic.

It has been estimated that it would take at least a decade to repair local roads properly assuming adequate funding became available. Demonstration, if ever needed, that squeezing the central government funding (our taxes) of local authorities, was a very bad idea, promoted by Lady T. She thought LAs were profligate, and followed by the misguided austerity programme, from which we now reap the pot hole harvest among other failures.

Caveat Emptor seems appropriate come the next election. The traditional pot hole repair method levelling and the sealing the joints with liquid tar was very effective and longer lasting. Sadly, it is both time consuming and thus more expensive. Meantime, we scan the horizon for pot holes, avoiding where possible and striking them expensively when the road is wet. Neither is conducive to road safety.

Richard Price

Brockenhurst