Appalling Roads Management

I would have a lot more sympathy for the County Council and its claim for additional Governmental support if the resources it has received in past years had been more wisely used.

Here in Grantham, the County and District Councils have between them contrived to waste huge amounts of money without necessarily improving the road infrastructure on which resources have been directly or indirectly squandered. Examples include:-

a) the totally unnecessary resurfacing of numerous housing estates (Barrowby Gate, Sunningdale, St. Vincents - and others) whilst more important roads carrying more and much heavier traffic have been largely ignored. Why was this approved?

b) the complete replacement and resurfacing of the footpath on the northside of Gonerby Hill linking Gonerby village and Downtown store providing a first-rate pathway for an unknown (i.e. unmonitored) number of pedestrians - but probably fewer than a dozen or so each week. Why was this approved?

c) the cycle path on Princess Drive which is largely unused by cyclists but is used for parking by the resident motorists. Why was this approved?

d) many informal unlit pathways (as distinct from metalled footpaths and roads) have been needlessly upgraded in areas of Grantham presumably to keep the few (but unmonitored) users’ footwear free from mud and dog faeces. Why was this approved?.

e) the decision to combine, centralise and relocate St Wulfram’s Secondary Modern and the Boys’ Central schools on the Manthorpe Road estate caused traffic management problems that even now continue to adversely impact on the town; a prime residential area of “available” land was effectively wasted; and the old St Wulframs ‘ school site has been left virtually derelict. Why??

Additionally, many hours of administrative time (and Councillor consideration and approval) have been wasted compiling reams and reams of road and pathway maintenance "standards" which are largely ignored and only monitored and checked by a member of staff (no doubt employed for this purpose) driving at 30mph speed limits across the County. Little wonder then that the “approved” standards are actually implemented. Like so many aspects of Lincolnshire bureaucracy – lots of paper and little real use!

Finally, although much more could be written on Lincolnshire's mis-management of its allegedly limited resources, the issue of Grantham's unresolved traffic-management beggars belief :-

• So-called "bridge strikes" occur with regular frequency and have done for decades, and the whole town is brought to a standstill yet those drivers involved and their employers seem to escape all laws relating to "driving without due care" or indeed civil liability for the damage caused to bridges and the losses incurred by businesses affected. This surely needs to be addressed, as does the ongoing consequences of the lunatic multi-million pound decision to build St. Augustine Way continue to blight many planning and traffic management issues affecting Grantham.
• The stupid and apparently indefensible decision to locate a trading estate in Alma Park to provide for transport and warehousing businesses mainly trading to the West and North of Grantham is another example. These businesses generate hundreds of HGVs journeys every day and at all hours to and from their respective depots via the town centre simply to to reach exit routes on the Western and Northern boundaries of Grantham. These vehicles necessarily cause serious traffic problems and damage to the road system and cause widespread noise and air pollution but, even more importantly, directly endanger the lives of pedestrians who, in some places on Harrowby Lane have only one very narrow and badly maintained footpath to get to and from local shops and two local primary schools. Many of the 40 tonne HGVs from Alma Park literally pass within a couple of feet of pedestrians using this one narrow and badly maintained footpath to reach the New Beacon Road junction but regrettably the County Council has refused to invest in the relatively trivial cost of obtaining a Weight Restriction Order to effectively prohibit the use of Harrowby Lane by Alma Park HGVs. Such an order would not only reduce future road maintenance costs but simultaneously protect Harrowby Lane residents from a dangerous and unnecessarily close exposure to HGVs. Alternatively, and applying a little imagination, Councillors could save huge future road maintenance costs by financially assisting those “wholesale non-local businesses” presently trading out of Alma Park to relocate to the Western boundaries of the town where more direct access to the trunk road network would be possible without blighting existing residential areas within Grantham, and making available the Alma Park site for businesses intending to trade in and around Grantham.

From the few issues outlined above there is perhaps little wonder that Lincolnshire councillors and senior staff now wish to divert attention from more important issues by focusing attention on potholes!

Lincolnshire people surely deserve better but no amount of additional resource made available by Government will improve matters until our local councillors at both County and District Council level recognise that they’re not very good at actually doing the job for which they’ve been elected – and address that problem before everything else.