THE county council has apologised for the standard of work carried out to pavements in South View, blaming the “poor weather”.

As previously reported, residents in South View were left ‘appalled’ by work carried out to the pavements in Vyne Road by Hampshire County Council.

The black coloured microasphalt used to treat the pavements had been splashed up the side of garden walls; spilled onto the kerbs; and poured on top of plants and stones, leaving an uneven and bumpy surface.

Councillor Carolyn Wooldridge, Labour borough councillor for Norden, said several residents were “quite rightly unhappy with the standard of work done”.

She added: “We’ve been waiting for Hampshire County Council to do this and other much needed road and pavement work in Norden for so long now. It’s appalling that when they do finally get round to doing some work that it's of such poor standard.”

Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, executive member for highways operations at Hampshire County Council, has now responded to apologise.

He said: “I apologise that these footway works are not up to our usual high standard. The material used on the footway at South View is called microasphalt. This is a very cost effective thin-layered preservative process that is aimed at limiting further surface deterioration on both footways and carriageways. It is not intended to address uneven surfaces.

“The work unfortunately had to be cut short due to poor weather but I can confirm that our highways team will be returning to the area on Tuesday 12 October to rectify the various issues that have been highlighted and complete the job.”

However, since publishing the article yesterday, residents from other areas including Eastrop and Oakridge have reported the same treatment work carried out there has also left a mess. 

Posting a photograph of similar problems in Eastrop Lane on the Gazette’s Facebook page, Dmitry Gramoteyey said: “It does not look like an improvement, very messy, nothing is done about cracks and uneven parts of the pavement.”

Charlotte Moring added: “Chequers Road, Goat Lane, Eastrop Lane and Eastrop Way all look like this too, as well as big clots of tarmac left on the side of the road and actually fused to the new paths perfect to fall over. Not to mention that as you walk over it, moisture seeps through like a soggy towel and leaving wet footprints on what is otherwise a dry pavement.”

Laura Ward said: “It’s as bad in Oakridge all coming up in chunks.”

The Gazette understands that the pavement work in both Eastrop and Oakridge was carried out after the work in South View, meaning the weather did not result in it being “cut short”.

We asked the council whether it will also be returning to these areas to rectify any issues.

Cllr Oppenheimer said: “I can confirm that the footway works were completed in the Eastrop area last week. Poor weather at the beginning of October slowed progress with this programme of work, resulting in it taking longer than anticipated. I would ask residents to report any highways issues to us via our website: https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance.”