In last year’s campaign one of the major concerns was the number of potholes both in the roads and the paths here in Shaw. Many people on the door step have commented on this. It isn’t bad enough that this council paid lip service to pot holes but in places has laid tarmac over them which not only came lose but added to the problems.
Once again I am raising this issue, and this time I do it as a result of speaking to one family and hearing of a second who have had personal and painful involvement with them. both of the stories relate to children. In one case a girl was riding her scooter on the path when her front wheel went into one of the deep potholes. She went over the handle bar and smashed her face into the path resulting in not only cuts and brusies but damage to her jaw which left her unable to eat or speak properly for a number of weeks. The family only wanted one thing form the council – that they make a proper repair to the path. This was believed to have been done until the recent cold weather got to work, adn the hole is breaking up again.
The second family saw their daughter out on her first bike learning to ride, the wheel again hit a pot hole and this time the girl fell off to her right side cuts and grazes were thankfully all she suffered. When the family contacted the Council they were told that it would only be repaired as part of an ongoing programme. A few days later a Council employee did come to look at the pothole sprayed a yellow circle around the hole and left, the hole is still there but it does have a pretty halo!!
It is time to stop wasting money on unwanted projects and use taxpayers money on maintain our infrastructure properly.