PROBE INTO POTHOLES: Council springs into action after Gazette spotlights '˜worst road'

Work has already started on a road that the Gazette highlighted last week as one of the worst for potholes.
Marking on the  Newton on the Moor to Longframlington road.Marking on the  Newton on the Moor to Longframlington road.
Marking on the Newton on the Moor to Longframlington road.

The route between the villages of Longframlington and Newton on the Moor was flagged by reader Margaret Whittaker, who said ‘you can easily count over 100 on the length of the road’.

She was concerned for the safety of motorists who don’t know the road well, particularly in heavy rain when the craters fill with water.

A pothole on the Sharperton road, which wrecked the tyre of a car driven by Christine Chalk.A pothole on the Sharperton road, which wrecked the tyre of a car driven by Christine Chalk.
A pothole on the Sharperton road, which wrecked the tyre of a car driven by Christine Chalk.
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But earlier this week, she said: “Since your pothole article last week, the council has been prompted into action.

“Using yellow and orange markings, they have been along the road and highlighted some of the worst, but not all, potholes. My estimate was way out in that on just about half of the road, we counted 124 markings – unbelievable. Anyway a good result so far.”

The work began despite not being scheduled until the summer. A spokesman at Northumberland County Council said: “Our teams are working as hard as they can to improve the road network and the recent weather improvements mean works can be accelerated. It’s always good to receive positive feedback for the efforts the teams are putting in.”

In response to Margaret’s question about the quality of the work, he said: “All our pothole repairs involve the tarmac being compressed by machinery, although they may on occasions be finished off by hand. However, a whole repair would never be carried out using this method.”

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Teams are also working in Netherwitton, where a poor section of road was featured in the Gazette a fortnight ago, and they are aiming to have completed all the reactive repair work in the next two weeks.

Gazette reader Christine Chalk wrecked a tyre when she hit a pothole in April on the Sharperton road.

“It was definitely the worst road I have seen,” said Christine. “At the time, I was travelling slowly as I was early for my grandson’s fair. I was lucky that only the tyre was damaged and we were not injured.”

She reported the potholes and the council has since filled them.

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“A lot of potholes have been there a long time, before the bad weather,” Christine added.

PROBE INTO POTHOLES CAMPAIGN

The Gazette launched its Probe Into Potholes campaign at the beginning of March in an attempt to improve our road surfaces.

The aims of the campaign were to:

Raise awareness of the correct ways to report potholes – the council will not be able to repair them if it does not know of their existence through the proper channels – log on to http://bit.ly/NCCpothole for more information;

Openly engage with you our readers in highlighting the worst potholes. We want you to tell us if your car has been damaged by a particularly deep hole in the road. But first, make sure it has been reported to the county council;

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Work with Northumberland County Council to help address them;

Working with our sister newspapers across England, we will support the council in any lobbying of central government for additional funding.