"Outrageously bad" potholes in Leighton Buzzard and Linslade are a safety risk says councillor

Highways safety is at risk because of “outrageously bad” potholes in Leighton Buzzard and Linslade, a meeting heard.

Delays of up to a year are frequent in resolving some highways issues, a Central Bedfordshire Council Leighton-Linslade partnership committee meeting was told.

From next month, Milestone Infrastructure is to replace CBC’s current provider Ringway Jacobs at the end of its seven-year term.

“A part of M Group Services, Milestone Infrastructure has been awarded a contract up to £250m, with an initial term of seven years plus the option of a further three years extension,” according to the council’s website.

This will involve “maintaining and improving roads, pavements, rights of way, drainage, bridges and other structures, as well as street lighting, winter and emergency response services”.

Independent Linslade councillor Victoria Harvey told the partnership committee: “Joint working between CBC and the town council could save both authorities money. We were promised in June this would start and nothing’s happened.

“When are we going to see the changes in highways we’ve been promised for years, and see a delivery which means you don’t have to wait 12 months for something to happen?” she asked.

“I’m concerned over the highways issues from (CBC’s) FixMyStreet. The state of potholes in many places and highways safety is outrageously bad in this town.”

CBC chief executive Marcel Coiffait replied: “We’re open to joint working. That’s perfectly feasible. I’m happy to follow that up.

“We’ve a new highways contractor due to start from April 1. We should see hopefully an uplift in quality. I’ve met the managing director to say it would be good for the company to spend time and effort in the early days of the contract fixing things which have been hanging on for a long time.

“There’ll always be a lag in some areas for highways maintenance. Street lighting is a good example. Sometimes we’ll do a series of lights in close proximity, rather than chase around the whole of Central Bedfordshire doing one light here and another there.

“That may not feel like best customer service, but I’ve got to balance the economy and the cost of things with our ability to respond to every issue.

“I know you’ve written to both myself and the director of place and communities Lorna Carver and she’s responded to you about the highways structure. If you’re not content with her answer, I’ll follow it up again.”

Councillor Harvey interjected, saying: “I’m extremely unhappy with her answer because I think waiting a year for things to happen isn’t me being impatient.

“It’s a terrible waste of officer time to have to keep chasing and having endless conversations about small things. Everything I’ve made a fuss about has been a minimum of a three-month wait.”

Mr Coiffait said: “We’ve 59 councillors all of whom want things doing in highways. There’s a huge volume of work which needs to be prioritised and managed effectively.

“We’ll have a structure in place which facilitates proper engagement. It’s unlikely except in emergencies that we’ll be in a position where things get done straight away.”