Fixing Potholes
The atrocious weather that has greeted 2024 has put more pressure on our roads than ever before. The sudden cold snap coupled with high rainfall has meant that our roads have cracked like the most fragile of Easter eggs. As a result, Devon’s road network, the largest in the country, is pothole-marked, cracked, broken and downright dangerous.
As someone who drives hundreds of miles a month across South Devon, I have acquired the skills of a Formula One pit stop crew when it comes to changing tyres! The state of our roads is not just a frustration but a costly problem that inconveniences residents and visitors alike, even putting those going about their day-to-day business in danger. While the increase in funding to Devon County Council and Torbay will go some way to helping repair the roads, the scale of the problem is far greater than most can ever imagine.
The total cost to repair all of Devon’s roads is estimated to be over £200m. The cost of this endeavour is becomes clearer when you learn that a vast number of our roads comprise only a thin layer of asphalt on top of the old cart roads of yesteryear. These thin filaments are not up to scratch and can deal with neither the weight nor frequency of new vehicles.
So, what can be done? Of course, funding should be increased, but at present that seems unlikely. Rather we have to find ways to incentivise those who stress and strain our roads to play a part in their safeguarding. Developers may provide some money for local areas through Section 106; however, they also need to play a larger part in protecting and enhancing infrastructure networks around their developments. Supermarkets, with large articulated lorries, are also pushing the limit of our roads, so either encouraging lighter vehicles or more private funding should at least be considered by them.
Devon County Council have done a good job in trying to patch up the network. It is unfair to blame local County Councillors when the scale of the problem is far greater than any single Council, but rather a national issue that needs to be addressed. In the coming weeks, I will make this point to the Minister for Transport in Westminster, that a new rapid comprehensive response to our potholes is needed.
Celebrating Easter
It is striking that Westminster’s Labour City Council was perfectly happy to celebrate Eid Mubarak but reluctant to hold any celebration for Easter this year. Why is it that some seem to be so very ashamed of their own culture and religion? We are presumably all comfortable wishing a Muslim a happy Ramadan and a Jew a happy Hanukkah, yet feel uneasy about celebrating Christianity and recognising its place in our society.
Presumably, Westminster’s council was worried that a Christian celebration might offend a non-Christian. However, to feel this is to fail to recognise that a multi-ethnic society does not hide one set of beliefs behind another, nor apologise for having different outlooks.
We need to recognise that we can be a tolerant, accepting and even a welcoming place but that in doing, so we do not need to diminish our views, culture and religion for fear of offending. Rather, we should be proud of our history, culture and religion and celebrate it all. Such an outlook was only reinforced at Dartmouth’s St Saviour’s packed Easter Sunday services this weekend past.