New report reveals exactly how bad things are for Edinburgh's drivers

Published on Friday 4 September 2009 09:44

THE Capital's worst roads are today revealed by new figures showing two-thirds of some streets are riddled with potholes and defects.

Among the worst offenders are Randolph Cliff in the New Town where 67 per cent of the street is classed as "red," or in urgent need of repair, and Portland Place, Newhaven, where the figure is 65 per cent.

Other streets among the 20 worst include Lothian Road, Hillend Place and Magdalene Medway in Duddingston, all of which have a high percentage of defects in relation to the length of the road.

The figures are the result of two years of study by the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS).

Around half of the city's roads were surveyed, with around six per cent of the network deemed to be in the worst possible category.

The news comes after the Evening News revealed the city's defective roads and pavements face a staggering 86 million backlog of repairs after years of neglect.

The sum is more than four times the current annual spending on repairs.

Raymond Davidson, secretary of the Edinburgh Taxi Association and a cab driver in the city for over 30 years said: "You don't have to look hard for potholes, there's some absolute crackers in the city centre. I saw one on Calder Road today that looked like something you might see on the surface of the Moon.

"I think the main problem is that the buses are too heavy for the roads. You only have to look at the bus stops, there's usually a crater. The council needs to get it sorted quick."

David Legge, of the Association of British Drivers, said today's figures would not come as a shock to the city's motorists.

He said: "These figures are hardly surprising, and I don't think the roads mentioned are untypical of the rest of the city.

"This must raise the question of how much the city is continuing to pay out to motorists who have had their vehicles damaged by potholes, especially in light of reports from elsewhere that local authorities are now paying out more in compensation than their total roads budget."

At least 25,000 new potholes are reported annually in the city, despite record levels on investment in the past few years.

The city council has dramatically raised spending on roads and pavements to a record 20m a year, but even with that level of investment it will take years to clear the backlog.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said: "Considering the large size of our roads network and the lack of investment over the past 20 years, coupled with continually increasing usage, the relatively low percentage of our roads in urgent need of repair is reassuring, although not acceptable.

"Under this administration we are committing record sums of money to our programme of improvements – approximately 60 million.

"Indeed, our annual capital spend has increased five-fold on that committed five years ago.

"This investment is clearly beginning to bear fruit, with reported road defects halving in only three years, and, encouragingly, our lowest-rated roads classed as being the most improved of any local authority in Scotland over the same period.

"We are well aware that more work needs to be done and will continue to invest the time and resources required to bring our roads and pavements up to the standard our beautiful city deserves."

Earlier this year, Edinburgh's Chamber of Commerce called on the city to be allowed to keep more of the money it raises in rates to improve the quality of roads and pavements throughout the Capital.

The Chamber said the Scottish Government was "killing the goose that lays the golden egg" by taking away from Edinburgh more than 100m a year raised in the city through non-domestic rates.

Edinburgh contributed 279.9m to a central "pool" last year and got back 177.8m – a gap of 102.1m. By comparison, Glasgow contributed about 290m and got back about 225m.

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