Jetpatchers get to work on Central Bedfordshire’s pothole misery

The jetpatchers have been out and about in Central Bedfordshire

Freezing conditions before Christmas and into the New Year, combined with periods of prolonged rain, have seen roads suffer in all parts of the UK, with potholes and defects appearing in carriageways.

In Central Bedfordshire, since the start of April 2022, around 2,000 potholes have been repaired as the Council works hard to maintain over 800 miles of roads. On top of council funding, £2.5million from the Department for Transport’s Pothole Fund is helping with this work.

To step up work, cutting-edge technology will also be deployed in the form of four Jetpatcher machines. This road repair system leads to safe repairs, reduces costs and takes only half the time to fix potholes when compared to traditional repair methods.

Cllr Ian Dalgarno, Executive Member for Community Services, said: "Winter weather always takes its toll on highways, however, the extreme conditions this winter have led to an increase in the number of reported potholes in Central Bedfordshire and across the UK.

"Our Highways Team is working hard to keep the network safe and is focussing more resources into carrying out urgent repairs.

“I know residents and road users are being affected by the increased number of potholes and I would like to ask them to bear with us while we deal with required repairs, as quickly as we can, prioritising those that are most important. I thank residents for reporting potholes to us and I ask that they continue to do so through Fix My Street.

“We are working hard to provide quality highways maintenance work for the benefit of our residents and road users.”

The Council is also investing £20 million in the highways network in the 2022/23 financial year and has over 200 improvement schemes in its Highways Annual Plan for this same period, of which 80% have already been completed. If residents notice any issues on the road network, they are asked to report them on fixmystreet.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk so the Council can investigate the problem further. In an emergency, dangerous potholes or other safety-related issues can be reported to the highways 24 hour emergency team on 0300 300 8049.