Potholes: Repair work seems poor

I write with reference to '˜almost all' of the reported potholes in Northumberland having been repaired, (Northumberland Gazette, January 21).

I made one of my regular visits to my mother in Lesbury last weekend, and on Saturday morning we drove to Craster. The road at the north end of Longhoughton has a profile resembling an egg box and has been that way for many months.

I assume this part of the highway network is not included in the ‘almost all’ claim.

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On Saturday afternoon, I walked into Alnmouth and noticed a large number of patches had been applied to the road between the Hipsburn roundabout and Alnmouth bridge. Not before time either.

However, the quality of the work seemed very poor. It appeared that there were several places where the patching had not been keyed into the surrounding road surface, and in some cases the hole itself had not even been completely filled. Little effort to ensure the surface of the patch is level with the road appears to have been made.

It will take very little time for these crude repairs to be undone by heavy vehicles and whatever money was spent on this stretch of road will have been totally wasted.

It’s all very well to proudly boast statistics, but I wonder how proud Northumberland County Council would be of figures showing how many repair jobs had to be done again within three months or less?

Richard Laidler,

Teesdale