The State of Audlem Potholes

At Monday's Parish Council meeting I attended and spoke in the public forum as a local resident deeply concerned about the disgraceful and dangerous state of some of the roads in and around the village.

It seems Cheshire East are without doubt guilty of serious neglect in their duty to maintain the A525 and A529 and all major routes out of the village are strewn with potholes, missing
catseyes, lack of clear road markings, bad signage, overflowing gullies and water leaks across the roads that lead to ice forming on the road.

The seriousness of how dire the roads are became most evident for us last weekend when we were confronted by an oncoming car, suddenly swerving into our path on the A529 and whilst I cursed the driver for a moment, we somehow managed to avoid a collision and I quickly forgave the other motorist when I saw what he swerved to avoid, a huge 1.5 metre-long pothole, nearly a metre wide and about 2" deep!

Then on Sunday, we saw groups of cyclists riding into the village (plenty of customers for the cafes and local shops) but noticed the feverish gesticulations of the group leaders waving their arms in warning of the many potholes, making them look like deranged, cycling Magnus Pike's!

Of course this becomes less amusing when we actually try to navigate the roads on two wheels ourselves and we quickly realised that what can destroy the tyres, wheels and even suspension components on a modern car can have fatal consequences for innocent cyclists who may be either thrown from their bike, or even hit by a pothole-dodging motorist like the one that nearly hit us!

Enough is definitely enough! My appeal to the Parish Council was not only for them to request a full review of road conditions on these two roads (Three directions) but also that they request Cheshire East conduct PROPER and LASTING quality repairs, not simply 'tick boxes', 'hit targets' and grab headlines with "look how many potholes we have filled" as they have done over and over, only for the said 'repairs' to last no more than 48 – 72 hours in some cases!

Members of the Parish Council confirmed what many of us always suspected: That the poor quality of some of these repairs seemed due in part to poor training of those contractors doing the work, and several instances of incorrect road repair procedures being carried out having been witnessed by Parish Councillors themselves and these were relayed at the meeting.

Cheshire East claimed great publicity for their gimmicky 'Velocity patching' vehicle and boasted about the speed and efficiency it achieved: well if we are measuring efficiency by how fast the tar and gravel can come lose and eject from the filled hole then yes, I guess it was very efficient!

It's time this boastful, bragging authority were brought to book and stopped the self-promoting spin and instead spent OUR money on some serious long-term repairs were done with some sections of road properly resurfaced (no, -- I DO NOT mean 'tar and chippings'!) with proper asphalt laid down in large patches and long sections needing total renewal. Otherwise sooner or later several of us are going to be seriously injured or killed, as the problem gets more serious by the day.

Our own local Councillor, Rachel Bailey now leads this Authority, (and some of the very worst neglected roads are close to her home) – so there can be no more excuses!

Notable problems, many shown above:

A529 near Second Dig Lane: Fancy a swim? Nearly 3" deep, but shallow end is ok!
Cyclists beware! (Little Heath)
Even in the Square
Browns Bank: A529 (60mph high -- speed obstacle course, -- or should that be 'Russian Roulette'?)
Lightwood Green: A529 next to layby: It's DEEP!
Nasty: A529 Audlem-bound approaching Combermere pub at Burleydam
Audlem-bound A529: at Lightwood Green (chapel on left): You would think that Cheshire East's new council leader might notice this 'cliff' as it's so close to her home!
Try cycling through these and maintaining a pulse: difficult!
Worst of all: between Copthorne Drive and Hollybank, usually in the dark under the trees.

Statement from Cheshire East

A Cheshire East Council spokesman said: "Our highways teams take local highways concerns seriously and are dealing with these complaints in Audlem as a matter or urgency but we would like to point out that all repair and maintenance works across the 2,700 kilometres of highways network in the Borough have to be prioritised.

"We would encourage residents to report these matters directly to us so that we can respond accordingly and deal with the issue in the most effective way for the benefit of all our residents and road users.

"Residents can do this using our 'Report it -- Track it' online reporting tool on the Cheshire East Highways web site https://www.cheshireeasthighways.org/report-it-general.aspx .

"This enables our residents to locate the issue on a map and send photographs directly to Cheshire East Highways.

"They can also follow the progress we are making with the highways issue they have raised with us, by tracking their enquiry, keeping them up to date with information. This is a quick and easy way for alerting our highways engineers directly.

"It is not possible for us to constantly monitor all social media platforms to find out about any concerns but our teams do a fantastic job and work hard to keep our road network safe and of the highest standard."

"Resources have been on the roads in the Audlem area carrying out repairs and further work is planned to take place on the A525 from 29 March. This work will include carriageway repairs as well as works on signs in the area."

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.