Yet again, on Thursday of this week at CWaC's full council meeting I will be raising the state of our roads with CWaC Labour's Highways portfolio holder Cllr Shore.
I've been raising the state of the roads in Frodsham with her for many, many months - and still they remain in a deplorable and deteriorating state.
The donwnhill run must have been absolutely shaming for CWaC Labour.
The volunteers who managed the event had had to mark the pot holes on Howey Lane with orange paint - you can still see it now - and they had to shepherd the runners away from the parts of the road where the road surface is missing.
However the official line from CWaC is that Howey Lane's condition isn't poor enough to justify repairs even after the many patching sessions we've had over recent years.
I find this incomprehensible - not only because it is obvious that the road remains in a seriously defective state - but also because doing nothing allows the road to deteriorate further and make the repairs when the finally happen much more expensive. They may also need to be done in an emergency after someone has been hurt or vehicles damaged.
Of course Howey Lane is merely one example of the poor state of our local roads.
Ashton Drive is also in a deplorable state. Lynn and I have been chasing CWaC highways to repair Ashton Drive for months only to be told very recently that it too wasn't in poor enough condition to merit repairs. Again, like Howey Lane - how can they say the condition isn't poor enough to justify repair?
Now, funny thing, - with CWaC's council meeting being set for tomorrow, with Cllr Shore already on notice that I will be raising the state of roads yet again, I have, just this morning, received a notice saying that Ashton Drive is to be closed for EMERGENCY REPAIRS.
Its quite extraordinary that Cllr Shore has let our vital road infrastructure deteriorate so much over such a long period of time that EMERGENCY REPAIRS are necessitated.
To my mind this looks like a failure of planning and management. Proper preventative maintenance should eliminate the need for most, if not all emergency repairs.
And before anyone says - 'lack of money' - there is no lack of money. CWaC has overtaxed everyone over the last 4 years. Significantly more council tax has been raised than has been budgeted for. The council has underspent its budget on each of the last 3 years. There is £6m in the capital budget that has not been allocated and there is a significant underpend on the monies available to service any borrowing. This is ever before we talk about the additional government money that has been provided specifically to support roads maintenance.
So as it is not a lack of money - the only thing that has got us to this state must be a failure to manage and that lies squarely with Labour's Cllr Shore.
I've been raising the state of the roads in Frodsham with her for many, many months - and still they remain in a deplorable and deteriorating state.
The donwnhill run must have been absolutely shaming for CWaC Labour.
The volunteers who managed the event had had to mark the pot holes on Howey Lane with orange paint - you can still see it now - and they had to shepherd the runners away from the parts of the road where the road surface is missing.
However the official line from CWaC is that Howey Lane's condition isn't poor enough to justify repairs even after the many patching sessions we've had over recent years.
I find this incomprehensible - not only because it is obvious that the road remains in a seriously defective state - but also because doing nothing allows the road to deteriorate further and make the repairs when the finally happen much more expensive. They may also need to be done in an emergency after someone has been hurt or vehicles damaged.
Of course Howey Lane is merely one example of the poor state of our local roads.
Ashton Drive is also in a deplorable state. Lynn and I have been chasing CWaC highways to repair Ashton Drive for months only to be told very recently that it too wasn't in poor enough condition to merit repairs. Again, like Howey Lane - how can they say the condition isn't poor enough to justify repair?
Now, funny thing, - with CWaC's council meeting being set for tomorrow, with Cllr Shore already on notice that I will be raising the state of roads yet again, I have, just this morning, received a notice saying that Ashton Drive is to be closed for EMERGENCY REPAIRS.
Its quite extraordinary that Cllr Shore has let our vital road infrastructure deteriorate so much over such a long period of time that EMERGENCY REPAIRS are necessitated.
To my mind this looks like a failure of planning and management. Proper preventative maintenance should eliminate the need for most, if not all emergency repairs.
And before anyone says - 'lack of money' - there is no lack of money. CWaC has overtaxed everyone over the last 4 years. Significantly more council tax has been raised than has been budgeted for. The council has underspent its budget on each of the last 3 years. There is £6m in the capital budget that has not been allocated and there is a significant underpend on the monies available to service any borrowing. This is ever before we talk about the additional government money that has been provided specifically to support roads maintenance.
So as it is not a lack of money - the only thing that has got us to this state must be a failure to manage and that lies squarely with Labour's Cllr Shore.