Little-known rule that forces councils to fix potholes – steps you must take to fight officials and win
THERE’S a little-known rule that forces councils to fix potholes - here’s what you need to know to take on officials... and win.
Road expert Mark Morrell, who calls himself Mr Pothole, worked with a holiday park in Staffordshire to get a key road leading to their family-run business fixed, around seven years after the owners first complained.
Before Mr Pothole lent a helping hand, the road leading up to the Oakland Holiday Park was riddled with a number of severe potholes that had a history of damaging customers’ cars.
Due to the terrible condition of the road, potential customers had been put off from driving to the park in the past, co-owner of the resort Adam Breakspeare claimed.
A handful of existing customers even lost their tyres because of the poor state of the road, he said.
Adam said for years Staffordshire Council would only “very occasionally” fill one or two “token potholes”.
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He added that park staff would joke about how the authorities scoured the road for potholes to mend but ended up just spray painting a circle around a few of them which would be all that would get fixed.
Thanks to the free advice Mr Pothole provided, the Breakspeares have now managed to get the council to fix around 15 potholes in just one weekend.
Adam and his sister Sarah recently took over running the business from their late father, who had given up trying to get the road fixed after he first raised the issue around seven years ago.
Sarah had the “energy” to start “pushing” the authorities again, according to Adam, but for several weeks was unsuccessful in getting anywhere.
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When the siblings considered filling the potholes themselves, they were warned against it.
Over the years, before Mr Pothole helped out, Adam said he had sent letters to the councillors, but nothing had been done.
But then in May, Sarah asked Mr Pothole for help, with Mr Morrell suggesting Sarah issue a Section 56 Notice under the Highways Act 1980.
Under the section, it gives the public the right to complain.
If the public considers a highway out of repair, complainants can apply to the magistrates’ court for an order requiring the highway authority to fix the road within a given time.
Sarah Breakspeare said in an email sent to Mr Pothole on May 30: "The council have spent the weekend filling nearly all the potholes on the road.
"Thank you for support and guidance in this matter - I really appreciate it and our customers are over the moon! No more damage to vehicles… for the time being."
Mark Morrell told : "I was contacted by Sarah from Oakland Holiday Park about the problem of potholes on the road leading to her business.
"She had no success in getting them fixed despite contacting Staffordshire County Council, her MP, local newspapers and the highways department directly.
"Once I received the photographs and video showing the state of the carriageway, I spoke to Sarah about using a Section 56 Notice under the Highways Act.
"I emailed details of the procedure to her explaining each step required. I offered guidance and support with the process.
"It would seem that once Sarah started the process leading to issuing of a Section 56 Notice things have happened.”
The council cabinet member for highways and transport David Williams said: "With one of the largest and safest road networks in England, it is inevitable that we will have a high volume of defects and this is why we recently announced an extra £5million investment in pothole repairs.
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"Road defects are prioritised on location and severity - in this location we received numerous reports of potholes and can confirm our roadmaster went out last week and repaired 15 defects along the road.
“We will continue to monitor this area via our routine safety inspections."
