Reader's Letter: Road maintenance neglect

by Raymond Walker

Friday 3^rd May 2019

Fri 3^rd May 2019

There has been little effort to address the accumulating problems that have resulted in lack of Council maintenance. We seem more focused on the cosmetics and forgetful of the fundamentals.

Since the Victorian days towns had regular grid cleaning programmes with 6mth or yearly visits, usually after the Autumn road sweeping to clear fallen leaves from the grids. Now not only is earth choking the traps in the grids, but in some is level with the grid cover. This is senseless since silt is flushed into the sewers and any blocked sewer is an expensive operation to remedy. Who are these people in the Council that dare to ignore logical maintenance programmes?

To cover the whole of East Cheshire I am informed that only three grid cleaning teams exist. This is not enough to cover every road in each borough as many floods are caused by neglected drain blockages during downpours. Some grid covers have not been lifted in five years. The photographs were taken in Wilmslow centre on the A34 showing solid earth underneath fallen blossom. One section has not even been swept.

Our new Council members need to be 'a new brush sweeping clean' and remedy this disgrace before we find main roads dug up to clean out blocked sewers at enormous expense.

Tags:: Reader's Letter

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

William McQueen

Friday 3^rd May 2019 at 7:48 am

Yep, you’re right. I’ve complained about lack of street cleaning and gully emptying till I’m blue in the face, but still no action. On Pownall Park there are completely blocked drains and last few years leaf mulch on streets which cause flooding when it rains. Even on established school runs parents with pushchairs have to venture into the road to get round huge pools of water around blocked grates. Apparently there is a cost to sort them out which outweighs the cost to safety of the kids. Given the amount of Council Tax we pay in this area you’d think we’d get some action to keep residents happy. Just waiting for council election results to see if the incompetents have finally been booted out!!

Deleted Account

Friday 3^rd May 2019 at 8:39 am

And sadly the street gutters here are just as bad.

Residents in some parts of Summerfields have had to resort to removing the weeds & brushing away the debris themselves.

Pete Taylor

Friday 3^rd May 2019 at 2:32 pm

Presumably you are aware that Highways maintenance is out-sourced to a company called Ringway Jacobs? They, despite hundreds of complaints, had their contract extended for another fifteen years last year. You get what you pay for.

Rather incredibly the Portfolio Holder for Environment (until yesterday) Don Stockton, the man responsible for Highways, was re-elected just now!

Well done to the three new Residents of Wilmslow CEC Councillors.

Richard Armstead

Tuesday 7^th May 2019 at 7:55 am

OK which local councillors are taking this by the scruff of the neck to get Wilmslow a fair share of the relevant CEC budgets?

David Smith

Wednesday 8^th May 2019 at 8:06 am

I photographed most of my locality in 2011 and sent a CD with photos to my councillor - Don Stockton. I got the usual 'concerned' reply and how the matter would be dealt with. Nothing much happened and the grids have been blocked ever since. That is why I did not vote for this councillor again - but he still was elected - presumably by residents who walk around with their eyes shut and do not care or are blind, dyed-in-the-wool blue Tories who are afraid to have someone as a councillor who might improve things.
Do not make a disagreeing comment about this topic until you have walked around your local streets in Wilmslow or Alderley Edge and made a record - either digitally or on paper - of the state of the grids on our roads. Then make an assessment of the state of the road drainage of the roads you have walked. A minimum of 100 grids should be inspected. If you want a choice selection of roads to inspect `I suggest you start down by Wilmslow Parish Hall [where you can park] and go up Cliff Road, along Styal Road to Manchester Road, left to Stanneylands Road, further if you wish towards Handforth otherwise back to Wilmslow and down to the King William pub, up to the lights at Station Road and back to the King William. left to the church and back to your car. Then contact your local councillor and ask why these grids are blocked. If anyone is interested I can send 70 images of blocked grids in this area from 2011.