Hastings and Rye Liberal Democrats
44, St Helens Park Road,
Hastings, TN34 2DN
Mr Rupert Clubb
Director of Communities, Economy & Transport
East Sussex County Council
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 1UE
30th January 2024
Dear Mr Clubb
I write to you on behalf of the ‘Hastings Potholes’ Facebook group, which now has close to 700 local members. I’m contacting you in your capacity as Lead Officer for Transport for the South-East, and with particular regard to your responsibility for road safety. We hope to convey to you our deep dissatisfaction with the road conditions and our growing anxiety that failing road surfaces will ultimately result in serious injury or worse.
As you can imagine, deep potholes cause a particular danger to cyclists and motorcyclists, but they are also causing dangerous and unpredictable manoeuvring of traffic as drivers attempt to avoid them and avert damage to their vehicles. These circumstances are having a detrimental effect upon road safety and threatening the health and well-being of local road users and their families.
Potholes are also causing considerable financial loss to drivers, who are having to replace tyres, repair cars, claim upon insurance and pay for roadside recovery services. During a cost-of-living crisis, families and businesses can ill afford this. It should also be noted that taxpayers are frequently unable to recover these losses from East Sussex County Council. Lastly, roads in Hastings have become so bad that buses are being diverted, causing confusion and inconvenience for users of public transport.
Personally-speaking, I have lost two expensive tyres, and reference to the Hastings Potholes group, will reveal extensive testimony of similar incidents, ranging from inconvenience and financial loss to real physical danger. Few local road users have the time, faith or persistence to report the number of potholes we daily encounter. Many now assume they will not be reimbursed and therefore do not report and do not claim. The system is not only grossly inefficient, it is grossly unfair.
With severe under-funding of local authorities, changing weather patterns and heavy road use, we appreciate that this issue does represent a considerable challenge, however, we feel entitled to timely answers to the following questions:
- Could we be reassured that ESCC fully appreciate the considerable impact this severe deficiency in our road network is having on the daily life and finances of local people?
- Given the clear and extensive evidence of severely potholed roads across the county, could the claims procedure be simplified, expedited and made more transparent and fair?
- Could we be assured that taxpayers are getting value for money, and that contractor profits are not prioritised over the obligation to fix our roads, save our vehicles, and potentially safeguard drivers’ and passengers’ lives? Anecdotally, we are advised that too few maintenance gangs are employed on repairs. We expect sufficient gangs to be employed across the county to address this issue. We also request that ESCC or Balfour Beatty staff are made responsible for spotting, monitoring, and reporting potholes. They are the experts. Why is this responsibility devolved upon road users?
- Could we also be advised of the ways in which ESCC Highways are meeting their duty of care to maintain the safety and usability of roads that are kept at public expense? These responsibilities are set out in the Highways Act 1980. Could we be assured these obligations are being met in full?
- Lastly, it would be greatly appreciated if East Sussex road users in general, and the Hastings Potholes membership in particular, could be advised of the current strategy to address this problem and the timescale within which it will be remedied.
Yours Sincerely
Guy Harris and Stewart Rayment
Hastings and Rye Lib Dems
PP
The Members, Hastings Potholes Facebook Group.
