Repairs rating rankles

There are concerns for pedestrian safety on a pavement ranked way down the priority list for repairs.

Despite a three year campaign for improvements the pavement on The Ropewalk, Southwell, has been ranked 128th in a Nottinghamshire County Council list of the worst footways in Newark and Sherwood.

Only the worst 20 pavements and the worst 50 roads in the district are included in the county highways budget each year.

The Ropewalk is 181st on the list of the worst roads in the district.

The rankings are determined by assessments of road and pavement surfaces.

Southwell’s county councillor, Mr Bruce Laughton, said he had drawn up a list of roads and pavements in Southwell that needed repairs.

“The next on the list is The Ropewalk,” he said.

Mr Laughton said there were potholes on both the road and pavement and both surfaces were uneven.

Mr Laughton claimed pedestrians walked on the road because the pavement was so bad.

He said there was a lot of pedestrian activity there as people walked to Lowe’s Wong infants’ and junior schools, the Co-op and Southwell Medical Centre.

Mr Laughton said the county council should have included work on The Ropewalk in this year’s budget.

A Southwell town councillor, Mr Brendan Haigh, said The Ropewalk road had been put under extra pressure as drivers used it to avoid the county council’s one-way system on King Street and Queen Street.

“The Ropewalk should be far higher up the priority list,” he said.

A county council spokesman said: “Several factors are taken into consideration when preparing the annual programme for highways maintenance, but the most important are the results of independent surveys which assess the various surface features.

“These results give an indication of structural life, ride quality and skid resistance and effectively prioritise the work for consideration.

“However, it is important to stress that in addition to the surveys the identified sites are then cross referenced with subsequent site visits.”

The spokesman added that the condition of The Ropewalk would be assessed and reviewed again for inclusion in a future years programme.

Repairs to speed humps in Southwell town centre have been included in the highways budget this year.

The humps on King Street, Queen Street and at the top of The Ropewalk will be rebuilt.

The humps will use a material called Imprint that resembles block paving and sits on top of a tar foundation.

The paved setts currently in place in Southwell are embedded in sand and move when large vehicles go over them.

They were installed three years ago as part of a £800,000 town centre improvement scheme but have been unable to withstand the heavy traffic using the streets.