Residents are Fed Up Waiting for Promised Road Repairs

Published on: 22 Jun, 2012
Updated on: 22 Jun, 2012

Residents of a Guildford street who are so fed up waiting for promised road repairs have signed a petition in the hope that something will be done soon.

Cabell Road in Park Barn is on the county council’s list for repairs. But despite SCC assuring them last year that work would be completed by March this year, residents are still waiting.

Surrey County Councillor for Guildford West, Fiona White, indicates one of the broken surfaces of Cabell Road in Park Barn.

Now, with the efforts of their county councillor, Fiona White (Lib Dem, Guildford West), more than 100 people have signed the petition.

The chairman of the Westborough and Park Barn Community Association, Wayne McShane, presented it to a SCC representative at the latest meeting of SCC’s Local Guildford Committee, on June 13. Residents are insisting that repair work is done to Cabell Road as a matter of urgency, adding that they believe the poor state of the road surface is now a safety hazard and to delay the work further puts residents at risk, while the longer the delay goes on the more it will cost the county council.

Fiona White said: ” Local residents have been complaining for a long time about the state of the road and the damage to their cars.

“In some cases it looks as though the houses themselves are being damaged. I have been putting Cabell Road on my list of priority roads for maintenance work and I received written confirmation last year from Surrey County Council that the road would be done by the end of March 2012. The work was not carried out.

“I have heard from a highways officer that when they assessed the work which was necessary, it was changed from a resurfacing to localised reconstruction but it hasn’t been done. I have been constantly pressing for a date when the work will be started but without any success so far.”

Fiona White added that after the petition was presented at the meeting, to which a number of residents attended, in reply, the highways officer present said that the road between the junctions with Barnwood Road and Homestall were in the programme for repairs this financial year.

“Both Wayne and I pointed out that it had been on the list for last year’s works and had not been done,” said Fiona. “The officer apologised to the residents and to me for the fact that the work was not done by the end of March 2012 as it should have been.”

Cabell Road showing some of the concrete slabs that make up the road surface.

The road surface is made up of concrete slabs. Fiona White and others locally say that joins between the slabs have not been kept watertight and water has got into the foundations of the road. The foundation is mainly clay which, when mixed with water, turns to mud and then washes away. The concrete slabs then have no base and start to break up.

The depth of one of the holes can clearly be seen here.

Cabell Road is on a busy bus route and is also used by heavy lorries trying to avoid the speed humps in nearby Park Barn Drive.

A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: “Surrey Highways is aware of the concerns raised for Cabell Road. The road is due for major maintenance works later this year. This will involve full surface reconstruction between the junctions with Homestall and Barnwood Road.”