Council Accused of Failing to Fix Potholes
Four out of five remain a danger to road users
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has been accused of failing to fix four out of five potholes by a cycling group.
This means the council comes fifth in a league table compiled by national cycling organistation, Cyclists' Touring Club or CTC of London boroughs with the worst repairing records.
According to the CTC's website, FillThatHole, out of 98 reported hazards, only 21 have been repaired, leaving 77 posing a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
Recent reports in the area have included a deep potholes on the Uxbridge Road, a mountain and crater in the bus lane on Putney Bridge, a deepening hole on Wood Lane and missing gratings in the floor in the subway under Westway, leaving a large hole to fall into.
Roads which have been consistently criticised for their poor surfaces include Fulham, Townmead, Hammersmith and Goldhawk Roads.
However, Hammersmith and Fulham's 98 reports are far fewer than in many other London boroughs - Westminster for instance had 270, while Croydon had by far the most record reports with an overall total of 456.
The pothole problem has been exacerbated by our long cold winter, which experts say has left London councils with a repairing bill of around £100 million.
The council though, denies there is a major problem. A spokeswoman says: “We have not seen an increase in the number of pot holes recently as our road maintenance programme was successful in keeping on top of things during the cold snap."
" It is true that we have fewer potholes than other boroughs, and we do not think it is right to ask taxpayers to pay twice to repair the handful we have. We are patching up potholes on all roads as soon as possible - except where we know scheduled resurfacing works to the whole road are due imminently. In those cases problems will be repaired when the whole road is resurfaced. "
