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Video: Street inspector
Fred Whale complains about the spread of potholes.

by Adam Williams

A pensioner has criticised the
way the county’s roads are being fixed.

Fred Whale has spent the last 17
years campaigning to get potholes repaired around the city.

But after the coldest winter for 31
years has left some of Canterbury’s roads looking more like
minefields, the 79-year-old former RAF man fears for public
safety.

He said: “I reported the worst of
the potholes around Victoria Road, St Mildred’s Place and Cogans
Terrace in Wincheap at the start of January. But, here we are
at the start of March and it was only last week that anyone came
out and decided to start fixing them.

“I heard a little boy came off his
bike last week in St Mildred’s Place and hurt his leg. He lost
control as his wheels got caught up in a pothole.”

Mr Whale (pictured left), a great
grandfather-of-four, is no stranger to measuring the width and
depth of potholes around Wincheap.

He was in the Gazette in February
2007, highlighting the need to tackle similar sized holes.

He said: “Lots of these holes can
be classified as P1, that’s priority one, meaning there’s a danger
to public safety and they must be fixed within two and a half hours
of being reported and inspected.

“But the workmen have been around
here last weekend and only fixed half the holes, leaving the rest
alone.”

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter stressed this
week that crumbling road surfaces will be fixed as part of a major
spring repair programme.

He said: “At the start of the year
I announced an extra £1m to £2 m spending on a major pothole repair
blitz, when the weather conditions are right. Plans are well
advanced and this money can be increased substantially if needed to
complete the job properly.

“We cannot hit the task as hard as
we would like until the winter is over and the weather
improves.

“The pothole repairs will see a
much larger army of road maintenance crews mobilised in the spring
to carry out a comprehensive programme of permanent repairs, which
will stand the test of time.

“The work will be on a find-and-fix
traditional piece-work basis to agreed quality standards.”

Specific firms will focus on fixing
local areas, rather than handing out the repair job to one big
contractor for the whole county.

Cllr Carter added: “The successful
firms will be announced at the start of April. Then you will
quickly see the results of our foresight and planning to put the
long hard winter of 2010 behind us.”

Is there a pothole problem where you live?

Send your pictures and stories tokentishgazette@thekmgroup.co.ukor Kentish Gazette at Gazette House at 5-8 Boorman Way,
Estuary View Business Park, Whitstable, CT5 3SE.