Residents in the Brookside Road area of Ruddington were left bewildered after Nottinghamshire County Council‘s contractors upped and left before completing the promised and desperately needed work on their crumbling roads.
The bad weather had meant the planned pothole filling work on Camelot Street and repair and resurfacing of the rest of the estate was slightly behind schedule – with only Grange Avenue and Fairham Close being completed before the weekend. As the snow thawed on Monday morning, householders in the other streets obeyed the new signs; to keep their roads clear of cars on Monday (19th) and Tuesday (20th). But nothing happened – other than the workers from Via East Midlands picking up their signs and disappearing! Now, on the two streets that were ‘finished’, lose chippings are covering the roads and pavements. On the remainder not even urgent pothole repairs have been done.
There are particular concerns about the condition of Camelot Street (pictured) after a continual pounding for the last few months from muddy, heavy lorries heading to and from the ’Lace Gardens’ construction site. This road was still in line for pothole filling – although not full resurfacing until factory demolition and building work is eventually completed.
Resident Craig Sharp spoke to one of the road workers on Camelot Street before they departed and says he was told: “The council have pulled the plug on road works on Camelot Street until at least September – even the massive, dangerous pot holes.” Craig adds: “The road cover that has already been done looks terrible – paying top council tax for budget work.” Nicola Burton agrees: “What they have done looks awful and with gravel flying everywhere .. I think maybe we’re better off with the potholes?! A bit of snow and it’s postponed for 6 months!”
However, although no new notices have yet been issued, Peter Topliss from Via East Midlands has moved to reassure local residents that they have not been forgotten! He promises Brookside Road, Brookside Gardens, Templeman Close and Shelton Gardens will now be repaired and Micro Asphalted around the 11th to 13th April. “Because of the weather we weren’t able to do those particular streets when we planned to do them” explains Peter. “Instead of pushing the rest of the programme we just drop schemes out and put them to the end of a programme to make sorting out the TROs (Traffic Regulation Orders) less complicated. Regarding Camelot Street itself, that one has been pulled from this Micro programme because of the amount of structural resurfacing work that’s needed on there, there are a couple of drainage issues, plus we have the new development. So we plan to just keep that one safe for the next year and then try to get it into our 2020 programme – though that’s not guaranteed at this stage.”
If this plan changes again we’ll let you know here at RUDDINGTON.info!
