Council sets up pothole posse

Lucky City Centre … but North Edinburgh will have to wait

A new initiative by the City of Edinburgh Council is set to tackle the capital’s worst potholes and road defects resulting from winter weather. A dedicated team of neighbourhood staff has been put together to coordinate an intensive programme of repairs concentrating on main arterial routes – but North Edinburgh won’t be seeing any additional pothole attention anytime soon.

Permanent repairs to road and pavement surfaces, aiming to be ‘right first time’, will be carried out in the City Centre & Leith and South neighbourhoods during spring, with a further package of work being developed to address other areas of the city.

The drive to improve Edinburgh’s roads will also see the number of squads undertaking short-term emergency repairs increase temporarily from three to seven to deal with problem areas.

Transport Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “We recognise there has been an increase in the number of potholes across the city over winter and now we’re addressing the issue. In addition to our ongoing roads repair programme, we are focusing our resources on a dedicated team of staff to manage our road repairs. This will allow us to target the city’s problem areas by getting permanent repairs ‘right first time’ which will reduce disruption.

“We’re also boosting our temporary repairs team to respond to emergency potholes and defects in order to ensure the safety of all road users, which is our number one priority, complementing our ongoing programme of road and pavement improvements across the city.

“As a Council, we are committed to ensuring the city is safe and accessible for all those living in and visiting it, and we’re always looking at ways of improving our streets, despite budget constraints. That said, we also rely on the public to let us know about any issues, so I would encourage people to report damaged roads or pavements by visiting or calling us on 0800 23 23 23.”

Packages of work targeting City Centre & Leith and South neighbourhoods, costing £120,000 and £60,000 respectively, will be funded from existing neighbourhood budgets and will add to ongoing patching repairs taking place throughout the year.

The list of streets that are scheduled for road repairs includes:

South Neighbourhood

Bruntsfield Gardens, Bruntsfield Place, Burdiehouse Road, Cameron Toll, Captain’s Road, Causewayside, Clerk Street, Colinton Road, Comiston Road, Craigmillar Park, Dalkeith Road, Gilmerton Road, Kirk Brae, Lasswade Road, Leven Street, Mayfield Road, Minto Street, Morningside Road, Newington Road, Nicolson Street, Old Dalkeith Road, Pleasance, South Clerk Street

City Centre & Leith Neighbourhood

Dewar Place, George IV Bridge, George Street, Morrison Link, The Mound, North Bank Street, North Bridge, South Bridge

The list of streets that schedules are being developed for includes:

South West Neighbourhood
Buckstone Terrace, Curriehill Road, Frogston Road West, Gorgie Road, Lanark Road, Lanark Road West, Longstone Road, Moat Place, Murrayburn Road, Oxgangs Avenue, Oxgangs Road, Riccarton Mains Road, Slateford Road, West Approach Road.

The Council will spend more than £15m on roads and pavements from its Capital budget in 2016/17. Find out more in the Road, Footway and Bridges Investment – Capital Programme for 2016/17 report to Transport and Environment Committee.