A hole lot of trouble (From Basingstoke Gazette)

A hole lot of trouble

9:12am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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GET your act together – that’s the call from one man who is fed up with the potholes on Basingstoke’s roads.

Adam Hammond, 44, of Queen Mary Avenue, South View, Basingstoke, wants more action from Hampshire County Council to fill in the gaping holes in the road surface, which were made worse by the cold weather this winter.

As reported in The Gazette, the county council has brought in additional resources to tackle the state of the roads in Hampshire, sending out 50 “pothole busting” gangs and a jetpatcher – a machine said to be able to fill 2,000 holes in a week.

But Mr Hammond said he has complained to the county council that not enough of the resources are being directed at Basingstoke.

He said: “These holes have been there for a long time. We were told that there’s a special machine to fix these holes but they are getting worse and worse and worse. At the end of the day, it’s about time these people got their act together.”

The 44-year-old said the holes are particularly bad on the residential roads of South View and Oakridge, and along the A33 between Chineham and Berkshire’s border with Hampshire. He blames the potholes for causing damage that led to a £150 repair to his car’s suspension in February.

Mr Hammond said he called the county council to find out what the latest update was with the pothole-busting but did not get a reply.

Councillor Mel Kendal, the county’s executive member for environment, said the number of pothole gangs in Basingstoke increased by five to eight during a four-week period in January and February. However, he confirmed that the jetpatcher had not yet been used in Basingstoke.

Cllr Kendall said: “Pothole-busters are mobile units and even though there have been 50 teams moving around the county repairing potholes, it is not surprising that they were not spotted by everyone as they have 8,000km of road to cover.”