Date received: 12 October 2023
Signatures received: 38
Name of petitioner: Mrs Kathleen Wheatley
Petition response:
I refer to the petition signed by local residents regarding the request regarding the condition of Chancery Drive. I can advise you that receipt of the petition will be reported to County Councillor Philip Hewitt.
Firstly, I would say that it is fully understandable to me why you would have aspirations regarding the maintenance of your local road network and I appreciate the time you have taken to contact the Council with your concerns.
In order to keep the public highway safe, urgent and high priority defects around the county are resolved in a matter of days as we will always prioritise our resources to firstly tackle the problems on the network which pose the greatest risk.
However, this does unfortunately mean that lower priority issues are not always dealt with as quickly as we would prefer, and I am sorry if this has not been properly communicated to you previously.
All road surfaces deteriorate due to use and weathering and severe weather conditions can accelerate the deterioration of roads. Reactive maintenance work, which is aimed at keeping the roads safe, is identified by a comprehensive system of highway inspections that categorise each defect based on the risk it presents to the travelling public.
Chancery Drive is a concrete road which will be why the perceived condition would be different to other roads you may encounter in Staffordshire. Our engineers have a database of the concrete roads that we are responsible for throughout the County as these are maintained differently to other roads. This database is kept so we can keep track of the condition of the carriageway and ensure it is safe. At present The Council currently relies on routine inspections and maintenance to keep concrete roads safe such as ad-hoc pothole repairs.
As part of our continued aim to look at innovations in the construction industry we are in early dialogue with our principle resurfacing contractor regarding a new product that they would like to trial in Staffordshire that treats concrete roads. Multiple roads have been submitted to ascertain the feasibility of this treatment including Chancery Drive.
The long-term aim with this trial is to see if this product can become a further preventive treatment specifically for those difficult concrete roads that become overlooked when considered for surface dressing. If these trails are successful we can incorporate ad-hoc repairs of any previous treatments to a concrete constructed road and then apply this new product, but firstly we need to undertake the trial and review any outcomes. There is no date at present for when this trial will take place. In the interim pothole repairs have been undertaken on Chancery Drive to make the road safe.
Yours sincerely
Mark Keeling
Community Highways Manager