£1.25m due to be spent improving Hartlepool's crumbling roads

Repair works to Hartlepool's crumbling roads totalling £1.25m are due to be agreed by councillors today.
Potholes in Brierton LanePotholes in Brierton Lane
Potholes in Brierton Lane

A five-year maintenance programme of roads and paths in most need of attention will be considered by the council’s Neighbourhood Services Committee.

For the coming financial year, the council’s budget includes just over £1 million under its Local Transport Plan.

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It is topped up by government grants of £98,000 from its Pot Hole Fund, and £99,000 from an Incentive Fund, bringing the total funding to £1,251,000.

Roads and paths are prioritised according to the urgency of their condition which is determined by a combination of surveys, visual inspections and reports of the council’s highway inspector.

Consideration is also given to requests from the public as well as councillors and officers.

A report of Tony Hanson, the council’s assistant director (environment and neighbourhood services), stated: “The highway network is constantly under threat from damage caused by increases in the volume of traffic, greater vehicle weights, the weather and the disturbance of the structure of the road through the digging of utility trenches.

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“Reconstruction works have been identified where other processes are not appropriate, and will be carried out in the interests of highway safety.

“Generally, however, other treatments such as re-surfacing and surface dressing, which are cheaper but have a shorter term impact than full reconstruction, will be utilised.”

Significant schemes in the Local Transport Plan for 2018-19 include £250,000 of work to the A689 at Wynyard and £80,000 on Belle Vue Way.

Work costing £100,000 is due to be spent on improving Mowbray Road, £95,000 in Elwick Road between Catcote Road and Park Road, and £75,000 on Stockton Road between Westbrooke Avenue and Loyalty Road.

The council says priorities of the programme may change according to the changing conditions of roads.