Tain councillor hits out at pothole repairs

A TAIN councillor has blasted the practice of using cold tar to fill in potholes on Ross-shire’s crumbling road network as "ridiculous" .

Fiona Robertson has hit out at the local authority’s continued use of cold tar to combat potholes and claims it is a waste of time and should only be used in emergencies.

The Tain and Easter Ross member said she and her colleagues are inundated every day with calls from residents who are up in arms about the cold tar method.

Councillor Robertson said the repairs are dislodged "within days", causing a mess to local motorists’ vehicles before the pothole needs to be fixed again.

She is now calling for the council - which defended the use of cold tar patching because the work can be carried out at short notice and in winter – to stop using the method and concentrate on the more expensive but better effective hot tar repairs.

"The cold tar method of filing potholes is ridiculous and a complete waste of council resources," said Councillor Robertson.

"Within days the cold tar has been dislodged, usually making a huge mess of peoples’ cars, and the pothole is just as bad. The roads men then come out and repeat the process.

"The cost of repeatedly doing this is huge and we all find it unbelievable that this pattern continues."

Earlier this year it was estimated by officials that £161 million was needed to tackle a huge backlog of repairs to the sprawling 4200 miles of roads in the region but there is only £27.5 million in the budget.

The Ross-shire Independent’s claims comes as two of her Black Isle colleagues Isobel McCallum and Billy Barclay table a motion at a council meeting in Inverness tomorrow (Thursday) calling on the leadership to pump millions of pounds extra into roads investment.

Councillor Robertson said her own ward was particularly bad with "constant and recurring" potholes, poor road edges and drainage problems.

"In some parts of the ward the road has been reduced to single track dueto the inability to drive on parts of the road," added Councillor Robertson, who intends to take up the issue at the next meeting of the authority’s transport, environmental and community services committee in August.

The council said it tried to deal with the problem in the most effective way possible.

"This will depend on a number of factors including the prevailing winter conditions," a spokeswoman said.

"Cold tar patching is used as a temporary repair to make a pothole safe and the material is kept in stock so that it is always available and work can be arranged at short notice. The last three winters have been particularly challenging in terms of potholes, and we have had to use temporary repairs due to the prevailing weather conditions."

Hot tar repairs are carried out in the spring and summer, while the council is spending an extra £1.5 million this year on surface dressing - "chipping" – roads to ensure they stay together longer and reduce the likelihood of potholes.

Meanwhile, the council is also now using a new machine called a Jet Patcher which sends a blast of tar into the pothole and cuts the amount of shovelling workers normally need to do.

"This method has proved to be very successful on our rural roads and can achieve high levels of productivity," added the spokeswoman.