Anger over lack of action to repair potholes in Shifnal

Over the last year or so, I and other residents have complained to them about the large, deep potholes in and around Shifnal. Damage is being done to vehicles and possibly accidents in the making with people falling off their bikes etc.

I have also reported the build up of leaves and other rubbish in the gutters. again ignored, coupled with a missing gulley cover on the pavement outside the butchers, again ignored, with a standard letter to me stating it is being dealt with. This is an accident waiting to happen with someone possibly breaking their leg.

What does it take for this council to move and for us to get some action? Why does someone have to be injured or worse still, killed before anyone up there in the council’s ivory tower takes notice?

Lastly, why does it take a lady to park her Range Rover in the middle of the street as reported in the Star on January 15, in protest over potholes before anyone gets off their seats and realises that we are real here in Shifnal, the problems are real and the reality is that nothing concrete or Tarmac ever happens in regards to the problems of the aforementioned and/or street furniture getting repaired when it’s broken.

Again, money is being spent in other parts of the county, but alas, we never seen any of it here in Shifnal.

If the Star is seeking to contact the council for a response, please ask the council not to issue a standard “template” letter as they did before stating that they have teams out repairing the roads, teams that are using new methods etc. That for me will not stand up in court or anywhere else for that matter. If the standard of the repairs are anything to go by, they will not stand up to the extreme weather we have and the complete road needs redoing.

Ken Poole, Shifnal

Council responds:

A spokesperson from Shropshire Council said: “We’re working hard to repair the roads in Shifnal and across the county.

"The unusual wet weather we have experienced this winter has exacerbated the problem and whilst we currently have 20 repair gangs working the day and night to fix our roads, more potholes have appeared faster than we are fixing others.

"We apologise for the distress and inconvenience this is causing residents and, as a consequence, we will be doubling the number of gangs repairing potholes to 40 over the next two weeks.

"We will also be improving the way we work by fixing them in an area at a time rather than prioritising the worst of them individually across our whole network. This will enable us to fix up to 500 potholes a day. We apologise that we can’t be everywhere at the same time but we will be covering Shifnal and every other area as quickly as we can.

"We also know that the best way to tackle potholes is to prevent them. That’s why, at the same time, we’re spending more than £5m between now and March on road resurfacing and drainage schemes, including work on Stanton Road in Shifnal.”

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