From: Ian Tyson
Dear All
There is considerable anger and frustration from residents about the state of Anslow Road in the Blackbrook area.
The road has several deep potholes which vehicles are trying to avoid by driving on the wrong side of a narrow road on a bend, these potholes of course are not visible when full of water.
Anslow Road has recently been ‘resurfaced’ but this work did not extend to this area, it was my understanding at the time that Anslow Road would be resurfaced in its entirety.
I would be grateful if you could give this urgent consideration before we have a head on collision.
Kind Regards
Ian Tyson (Vice Chairman Hanbury Parish Council)
From: White, Philip (County Cllr)
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your email.
I appreciate the concerns of your parishioners and unfortunately, they are not alone. We have had one of the worst winters on record for the levels of rainfall and therefore damage to roads meaning that in Staffordshire and across the country there are a lot of situations like this with serious road damage that requires repair. This means highways authorities like Staffordshire are working flat out to deal with all of the damage to the roads but cannot do everything at once. I would be grateful if you could make this clear to the people you are corresponding with as this is not a case of Hanbury being ignored.
I think the issue in Hanbury is also compounded by the fact that so much other work has been done to improve roads locally which means this section now stands out as being in poor condition. This should not detract from all of the investment that has gone into the parish, which I hope the parish council and residents will have been pleased to see.
In terms of fixing this section of road, the junction with Belmot Road is being fully resurfaced as part of the works currently ongoing on the section from the crossroads to Five Lanes End. The remainder of the road will be comprehensively repaired this year and will then receive a new top road surface in a similar way to the other roads locally that received this treatment last year.
I will let Richard Rayson add in anything further about short term/emergency repairs but hopefully this gives you reassurance that the road has not been left out of our plans which have seen Hanbury receive one of the biggest highway improvement programmes per head of population of anywhere in the county over the last year.
Finally, on the £285 million of HS2 cancellation money you mentioned, it is being backloaded so we are only receiving £3.1 million this year, which equates to about a 4% increase in our highways budget and not much help with the issues we are facing this winter. On a more positive note, assuming the funding survives the general election it will put us in a much better place once we have had the opportunity to put the full £285 million into the roads over the next decade. A good example of jam tomorrow.
Very best wishes,
Philip
From: Rayson, Richard
Dear all
To add to the email from Cllr White carriageway defect repairs are programmed in for the 8th March 2024 for Hanbury road.