Town's roads go to pot

ROAD safety campaigners in Nailsea say they are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of potholes in the town's roads and pavements.Nailsea Local Action Team (LAT) carried out a survey of the town's roads and pavements last summer to assess their condition and handed the results to North Somerset Council highways chiefs.But six months later LAT chiefs say the roads and pavements are continuing to deteriorate and are calling for more repairs to be carried out.LAT chairman John Hunter said: "The LAT took the time and trouble to carry out the survey which revealed 209 problems with the roads and pavements. The roads and paths are continuing to deteriorate and I would like to see more progress on repairing the problem areas."There are some very large potholes around the town, both on roads and pavements and with the wet weather and possible frosts, they are only going to get worse."Potholes can pose serious safety issues for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians and I would like to know when work is going to start on repairing them."It should be remembered that with an increasingly aging population and with disabled people with poor eyesight and using buggies, some of these and similar hazards present real safety and quality of life challenges."Mr Hunter said the LAT had written to Nailsea Town Council asking it to press North Somerset highways' bosses to get work under way.North Somerset Council spokesman Nick Yates said potholes were only repaired if they reached certain dimensions.A hole in the road has to be 40mm deep and 300mm wide and a hole in the pavement has to be 20mm deep and 600mm wide before it is repaired.Mr Yates said: "We will repair potholes reported as an emergency within 24 hours."It may well be that the potholes identified by the LAT did not meet the depth or width measurements and therefore will not be repaired as quickly."We do have a programme of repairs, but to fill in every pothole across the district would cost tens of millions of pounds.