I met with our Highways Maintenance officer yesterday. We discussed a lot. There are two maintenance officers like him for South Cambs except last week the other officer went to the depot and resigned on the spot. The pressure is really intense for these employees please be respectful and recognise a lot of people are working extraordinarily hard in difficult situations. There are mistakes and errors but everyone is trying their best.
After we’d had a long meeting the officer was planning to follow up with work here but he got a message calling him over to Thriplow urgently. He is due to come back today but who knows what urgent call to the south today will bring.
What did come up was that issues other people had raised to me did not have accompanying reports on the highways reporting system, which made it really hard to discuss the work. Please don’t assume the report is there please take two minutes to submit a report if you see a problem.
Since 2023/24, the amount of capital funding spent on highway maintenance has increased by £35m, from £24m to £59m. The Council has allocated more than £73m for highways maintenance in 2025/26. £5.5m of this is going towards wider works to improve the surface of footways and pavements.
In no particular order we discussed;
Butt Lane
-Surface by Household Recycling Centre (technically outside my area) on a list for patching, work ordered, needs authorisation, HGVs are ruining the road. Current funding is set up for pot holes where patching* ** is required it delays things slightly. Patching is where there are multiple pot holes and a single fix would immediately fail as the surface has effectively failed.
*Maintenance standards which are determined at county level exist in a long document which operates as the rule book We have a draft of an improved version of this which as standard practise is going to state patching should take place when there are multiple pot holes. This is a major improvement. The new document is being re-worked after discussion it is important to do this once and get it right.
**on the recent government traffic lights system for highways maintenance performance you were downgraded if you fixed lots of pot holes – there are no easy wins in this area.
Milton Road
Surprisingly few reports on the system. I had received messages. I took a look this morning but my phone failed so I could only get a small number of photos. Flagged to Highways officer who is due to return today.
Burgoynes Road
Also lots of messages – the system said 15 pot holes due to be fixed ‘work commenced Friday 30 January’ no work closed date, no hint on site any work has happened. – being investigated, but please update me if nothing is happening.
Impington Lane gulleys
Frustratingly the blocked gulleys had fallen off the system -for various technical reasons. Please re-report them. I will re-report them a note was taken. There is a recognition that a number of things are not working in terms of gullys and drainage, they are going to be focussed on over the next 12 months. I have a site visit with the manager for the whole of south and our maintenance officer being booked.
Gullys on B1049 including on the Cambridge city side
Part of £10,000 – £15,000 of gully works ordered in Histon & Impington division but proving extremely hard to get through all the hurdles to get the work.
High Street pavement
This was on a list and then the system was changed so that the list was determined by a combination of condition & utility, so High Streets score higher as do areas around schools and care homes. Unfortunately at that point the first list became obsolete. It is being followed up to identify what is happening.
Station Road pot holes
Due to be assessed but again need patching so need to get the Butt Lane ones done first.
Busway turning circle and blocked drainage in curbs.
Agreed would collaborate with busway to try to get maintenance work done whilst busway is closed. Already followed up.
Glebe Way/Cottenham Road
Some leaflets had been circulating complaining about this stretch – strangely there were no reports on the system. Bearing in mind the condition in other areas in the village when I did a reccy at 6am this morning I couldn’t work out what the issues were. Please Report faults on the system if you want them fixed. That said as a key route this road gets a survey every month to monitor it’s condition.
Pavement outside Camtrust blocked in pavement gully
There are some in pavement gullys in the Cambridge Road area we looked on the system and identified that the one adjacent to Camtrust is a county council responsibility and now on the system. It is causing significant pooling.
Poplar Road blocked gulley
After literally years of back and forth this was allegedly being cleared as we met yesterday – I will do a follow up.
Narrow Close
Understood that the patching work which took place when installing the H bars is not a long term fix. Priority area to rectify in financial year 26/27. Residents and myself in close contact with officer in regards to this matter.
Pepys Terrace
A real issue. Significant trip hazards but as there is no road surface works cannot be ordered. This has been escalated as it is a problem currently with no route to a solution. A quiet cul de sac is never going to make the cut for re-surfacing within standard criteria but there is a small percentage of roads across the county which are exactly like this. Call for a specific allocation of funding. Will follow up and have raised with area manager.
Double yellow lines/ alternative measure on Bell Hill to create disability access to High Street
Chasing
Garden Walk/ Glebe Way gullys
These were cleared on Friday however one of them did not get properly cleared. Because I had a photo forwarded by a resident of flooding over that gully top I was able to then forward that to the officer who could initiate an investigation then and there. Please if you see works that are done which are not good enough or have failed get evidence and forward it to me. My number is 07548 745197 or email me roshathorn@hotmail.com or ros.hathorn@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
It is frustrating, it is onerous but the only way we make progress is by working together. By reporting faults and making sure where we live continues to be a wonderful place to be.
hiopcouncillors 