A SENIOR councillor has given an update on pothole and road repairs in the region.
Cllr Jackie McCamon represents Mid Galloway and Wigtown West but also holds the portfolio for roads as part of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s administration.
She posted an update on the current position, saying: “It is no secret that the condition of our roads is dire straits, thanks to years of under investment.
“Now that the Conservative Group is at the helm of the local authority, we have prioritised fixing our roads permanently.
“Realistically speaking this will not happen overnight. Over the coming weeks and months, you will see more and more of our excellent workforce out on our roads, repairing surfaces and filling potholes.”
On the condition of roads, Cllr McCamon said: “Improving the state of our region’s roads is a significant task and requires a multi-year planned programme of work. Now that we have moved into the better spring weather our work has started in earnest. We recently began a large-scale programme of pothole repairs involving both traditional road patching and spray injection patching techniques.
“In support of our operational teams we have six spray injection machines working across the region. This highly efficient technique is supporting us in fixing a high volume of road defects quickly with over 2200 repairs made so far.
“As well as pothole repairs, we are also busy making the repairs necessary in advance of this year’s surface dressing programme and will shortly be starting both the surface dressing and machine laid surfacing programmes.”
She acknowledged there needs to be an improvement in the responses sent when defects are logged by the public and said this is being worked on, with an update to the local authority’s website and upgrade to IT systems used to manage the road network and repairs.
The councillor added: “We are now working to improve the way that the public report problems to us and receive updates and responses from us. These improvements will take several months to deliver but once in place will provide a much better experience for local residents when reporting problems to us.”
Her comments were shared by council leader and Annandale North Cllr Gail Macgregor, who added: “We’re working hard to address the historic underinvestment in our region’s arteries.
“Please keep reporting defects and potholes through the council site.”
