'Some are caving in': West Midlands residents say they are used to weaving around horrendous potholes
The issue has come into sharp focus
Residents in a Shirley street set for resurfacing work have described roads in their area as a “nightmare” and “horrific”.
It emerged the authority is facing a potential bill of more than £200,000 as drivers and pedestrians seek compensation for injuries and damage to vehicles caused by potholes.
Solihull Council is responsible for the public maintenance of around 600 miles of public highway valued at around £1.3 billion. It recently announced its highways maintenance programme for the coming financial year with a plan to repair around 17 miles of roads and 1,850 potholes.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service picked one of the roads set to get carriageway treatment this year at random with Kingshurst Road, between Lindridge Road to Loxley Avenue, in Shirley being selected.
On the walkabout we found small potholes in the road, deeper holes around drains and lines in the road caused by trees.
A Kingshurst Road resident told us: “There are much worse than this street, we are not getting major potholes.
“The road here sinks.
“The road is noisy but we don’t have the horrendous potholes which aren’t far away.
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“I have sympathy for the council – it is partly due to the weather.”
Another neighbour told us: “They are bad, it’s terrible but some are horrific going toward Birmingham.
“You have to look out for the potholes because they are quite deep.
“When I drive I’m weaving around them – it’s an accident waiting to happen.
“This road isn’t so bad but some are caving in even in this street.”
Residents pointed us to a large pothole that had developed at the end of nearby Loxley Avenue at its junction with Burman Road.
We saw vehicles driving around that one but other driver who were unaware went straight into the holes with the cars dipping.
A resident living near that pothole told us: “They tried to repair it but it comes back again.
“People round here are just used to it.”
At a recent full council meeting Councillor Ken Hawkins, the cabinet portfolio holder for environment and infrastructure, said: “Our roads aren’t crumbling, they are not crumbling.
“Like the rest of the country January was almost the perfect storm with the freezing weather, the wet weather.
“We have performed well in the country against other local authority areas, but unfortunately extreme weather has affected roads.”
He added during the debate any potholes in the borough would be “dealt with quickly”.