Hole lot of trouble as roads go to pot

AS THE ice melts following one of the worst cold snaps to hit Edinburgh for 30 years, so begins the painful process of assessing the damage and, perhaps more importantly, how much it is going to cost.

Have you spotted potholes and cracks appearing now that the big thaw is underway?

Tell us where they are and if possible send us a picture and we will put the authorities under pressure to get it sorted. Contact the Evening News newsdesk on 0131 6208733 or click here to email.

Still reeling after the criticism which came their way during the worst of the wintry weather, the Capital's road bosses must now take stock of the damage exacted on the city's already crumbling road network.

Despite spending a record 20 million on road repairs in the last year, Edinburgh still faces an 86m backlog of repairs following decades of under-investment.

Warnings nationally about a huge increase in the number of potholes following the repeated freezing and thawing of the UK's roads are likely to be acutely felt in Edinburgh, with council chiefs already preparing for an anticipated rise in the number of defects being discovered.

The warnings come as the council admitted it had already spent 1.04m of its total 1.4m winter maintenance budget by the first week of January.

Earlier this week, the Institution of Civil Engineers said the cycle of freezing and thawing water would widen cracks in road surfaces, creating new potholes.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, says council staff have already begun emergency repairs.

"We are experiencing the coldest weather snap in 30 years and, inevitably, there will be an increase in the number of potholes in our roads," he says.

"With that in mind, our roads teams across the city are carrying out regular inspections to identify problem areas and are already making emergency repairs as necessary. We are well prepared to deal with the increased workload and have committed record sums of money to maintaining our roads and to clearing the backlog of repairs."

More potholes is bad news for the city, with recent figures showing that about four out of ten roads in the city are still in need of urgent attention.

Figures obtained by the Evening News show that about 45m needs to be spent on the city's potholed roads and 41m on its dangerous pavements to make up for chronic under-investment stretching back decades.

At least 25,000 new potholes are reported annually in the city, despite record investment in recent years.

As well as the bill to fix the defects, there is also the cost of compensation claims from members of the public, a figure which ran to 2.5m in Edinburgh over the past decade.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, says the importance of treating potholes should not be underestimated by councils.

He says: "Potholes are not just about inconvenience; they damage vehicles and cause accidents. It is wrong to think doing nothing is the easy option.

"In previous years, councils have spent almost as much money dealing with compensation claims as fixing the problem."

After last February's two-week cold snap, there was a 40 per cent increase in road damage, according to the AA.

The motoring organisation said that led to an extra 1.5 million potholes across the UK and a trebling in insurance claims.

It says emergency funding is now needed to stop the "vicious circle" of crumbling roads costing more in compensation, accident claims and hospital admissions.

Councils have been accused of being too focused on patching up road surfaces, rather than rebuilding highways to correct structural faults.

Inspection teams in Edinburgh are now set to begin the painstaking task of checking the city's road network for signs of wear and tear. With ice and snow still lying in some parts of the Capital, council officials have so far been unable to properly assess the scale of the problem.

It remains to be the seen what the true cost of the damage exacted by almost a month of freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls will be.

But after the grit debacle of recent weeks, a series of new potholes across the city would appear to be the salt in the wounds for the Capital's drivers.

Residents can report road defects to Clarence on 0800 23 23 23 or by e-mail at [email protected]