Letter: Why Doesn’t SCC Do Its Own Highways Maintenance?

Published on: 28 Apr, 2022
Updated on: 28 Apr, 2022

Ringway workers

From: S Callanan

In response to: New Provider Ringway to Revamp Surrey’s Roads

I know for councils run by Conservatives it’s not “politically correct” to ask, but what was actually wrong with Surrey County Council having its own fleet of vehicles and employees going around filling potholes and resurfacing roads? Isn’t it the county council that grits and salts our roads in winter?

Is Ringway any good? Personally, I don’t care about their promised “wider benefits for local people and businesses” if my car is tumbling into a pothole which no one has turned up to repair, or has repaired so shoddily that it’s reappeared in a few weeks.

And is it a good idea for any contractor to the council to be marking their own homework? Will there be penalties for poor outcomes?

Also, can road works be carried out without huge numbers of cones and traffic lights? I’m all for ensuring no one working on a road is hurt by traffic, but can we have a sense of proportion?

Yesterday (April 27), on a road in town there was a short traffic light-controlled length of roadworks festooned with cones. Some kind of supervisor was sitting in his car in the coned-off area looking at his phone, seemingly unaware a blue and white arrow sign indicating traffic should move to the right had been put directly in front of the light so only the red could be seen.

Call me old-fashioned, but when I see a temporary traffic light on my side of the carriageway I tend to move to the right to avoid it without the need for further guidance.

What is actually the benefit to council taxpayers of bringing in a third party contractor? Any chance of an answer from Cllr Furniss [Cabinet member for Transport at SCC]?

This letter has been forwarded to Cllr Furniss, inviting a response.