Now for dealing with one of the hot political topics of the moment – the number of pot holes currently afflicting our roads. Clearly the recent bad weather has exacerbated this situation but as both a cyclist and motorist I have learned to travel carefully. I know that many pedestrians also faced treacherous passage as the snow, ice and wet took their toll. However it is to the roads that I mainly refer here.
Quite simply the state of our roads has become not just unacceptable over recent months but in some obvious cases they are downright dangerous. Particularly bad pieces of road I would mention are the two Bath Roads in Stroud and Stonehouse respectively and the main A419 at Newtown, the link road from Junction 13 of the M5. I know from the many contacts that I have received from constituents that there are many other good examples of road surface decay and neglect. This includes other surface deterioration such as collapsed or collapsing trenches which contribute to the very uneven levels we now have.
To help the Highways Department of the County Council I have been handing out cards so that people can tell them directly of parts of the road that need to be mended. If you do want to point out where there is a bad piece of road please contact freephone 08000514514; e-mail to highways@gloucestershire.gov.uk or write to Gloucestershire Highways, GCC, Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester GL1 2TG. You need to describe where the hole is and roughly how big it is. They will not mend them unless they are 30cm across and 4cm deep.
If you suffer damage then you can also point this out to the authorities. As someone who lost a tyre when on a country lane in the Cotswolds I put this down to bad luck and the darkness of the evening, but others may be able to seek compensation for any loss.
What I do notice is that even within the somewhat notorious roads of Gloucestershire the road surfaces in the Cotswolds area of the county are generally much better than those in Stroud. Clearly at the very least there needs to be a redistribution of budget as it cannot be right that the much busier roads in the west of the county are allowed to get into such a poor state.
I know that there are some who argue that poorer road surfaces are a price worth paying in terms of the need to cut public expenditure or that perversely it can help slow down the traffic, but I am not one of them. Just thinking of my own survival as a cyclist means that we need better road surfaces. To think otherwise means that we would be guilty of not taking road safety seriously and given the likelihood that this will result in more crashes, injuries or worse we must not contemplate this.
In the meantime please get your calls in to GCC to help them deal with the backlog of problems.
David Drew
MP for the Stroud Constituency