Potholes, Here There Everywhere

   We all know everywhere you go on the roads there's a pothole to rattle your front wheel and throw the steering wheel out of your hand. If your anything like me they will royally **** you off  too (annoy you).
    Now I live and drive around Tamworth and Staffordshire and whilst we are blighted we have no where near the problems of Liverpool and Manchester, but that doesn't matter unless you are in Liverpool or Manchester.

So the below is a list of things I know or have learnt about potholes.

 Staffordshire county council have already purchased a number or Pothole Zapping machines which to me are awesome, (I have a thing for machinery mounted on a lorry chassis I think its the combination of tools and transportation)
Its actually quite impressive. Not only that but the Conservatives have an election pledge of a further £3m to tackle the potholes of Staffordshire in 2017.

Apparently this piece of kit has been to Tamworth already. hopefully we will see it again.

How does the county know where to repair? there are 2 options, survey the thousands of miles of highway in Staffordshire or there is reliance on local people to report them. I know some people are very good at this and report them regularly, but there are many who don't. for example Two gates traffic lights have been reported.
 There is clearly and issue with potholes and we all know it. But from the documents I have seen not many of us are reporting them, I have read through the 34 pages of pothole defects reported last week by residents in Staffordshire and this has made interesting reading. Last week the county council only received 13 reports of defects to road surface in Tamworth, and these reports related to only 4 problems. we have to start reporting them. I may not be a county councillor at the moment but I think I have a duty to make sure the county know they have to come to Tamworth and sort out our roads.

 Right now for some of my knowledge about potholes, 

When I was a county councillor 2009-13, there had been a problem with St Georges Way for years and promises were not delivered, I was elected and immediately raising this with the local description of the road as the "surface of the moon". For following year Glascote road was to be resurfaced as a county councillor I managed to negotiate whilst the plant was in the area to get St Georges Way resurfaced,  I drove up there the other day and with the exception of a little stretching/cracking at one point its holding up very well.  I proud I was able to deliver that little piece of work albeit part pf the job.

Last week I got into a conversation about the standard of repair work. The person I was speaking to commented he saw some workers run into a gap in the traffic, scrape out a pothole, run into the next gap to pour in tarmac and then use the next gap to pack it down meaning the hole would repair in the weeks to follow. Now my knowledge is not at expert level but my understanding is the county council have a duty to remove danger and so may well  perform the style of repair above BUT this is a temporary repair until a patch can be dug out and rebuilt permanently. What I don't know is the turn around of permanent repairs.

Whilst talking about roads, it would be remiss of me not to mention the very quick surface dressing that has been added increasingly over the last 2 decades, this is where a tar is spread over the road followed by chippings and then a roller quickly runs over it, you know the loose stuff that we all hate. I have campaigned in the passed about this but I have since been told why its used. Firstly it apparently seals cracks in the road surface below. Secondly this surface is expected to last 3-5 years and can be done enough times to last 15 years for the same cost as resurfacing which lasts 10 years. So whether I like the use of this surface or not I can at least understand the reasons behind the use of this.

To conclude, Keep up the good work and report the potholes, lets not assume someone else has.
Well Done to those who report Potholes regularly are doing their bit regularly.   I'm certainly going make more of an effort not I've seen those figures because it seems not enough people are.

Report a Pothole online








Oh because it's election time and I'm a politician I have to include an imprint. 
Promoted by Michael Oates on behalf of Jeremy Oates, Tamworth Conservatives, The White House, 93 Lichfield St, Tamworth B79 7QF. 

School Run and the reliance on the car

picture found on google search

   It doesn't matter what time of year it is the school run is stressful and blocks roads and footpaths, any professional driver will tell you the roads are so much clearer during school holidays than they are during term time.

Whats the problem and whats the solution ?
  If only it were that simple,

Lets start with the problem.
Parents taking their children to school, all at the same time using the car because they believe it's quicker and more comfortable than alternatives. Combined with not enough room and parking to accommodate all the vehicles and boom that's where we are now.

So lets look at each element of "the Problem" and either address or make sense of it.

1, Numbers
Firstly there are literally thousands of children going to school each and every day, quickly looking at Tamworth. 26 Primary schools with about 150 pupils in each plus 5 high schools with 1000 pupils and a 2 colleges, All these figures are based on nothing but my guesswork. So around 8900-10000 pupils or children moving each day between 7:45 and 9am and again between 3:00 and 4:30  WOW
maybe I should look at those figures again.but that is a lot and they need to get from home to school in a limited time.

2, Parental choice,

"Parents have a right to express a preference for a particular state school, and all schools (except grammar schools) must offer a place to every child who has applied if they have enough places.  But where schools are oversubscribed, the school admission authority (the local authority or the school governing body, depending on the type of school) must use over subscription criteria to determine admissions in accordance with the recently strengthened School Admissions Code."

Whilst there are positives to this policy just like taking a pill there will be side effects. One of these side effects is that the parents of children living "out of catchment" can quite rightly choose to send their children to a school of their choice based on whatever reason they choose such as family, they went there, friends, hearsay performance or absolutely what ever reason they want. The problem that this causes is that the child will then need to travel to said school and due to living "out of catchment" this will mean a distance that could well involve a motorised vehicle.

3, Working Parents
  More and more in today's world financial commitments is shared and families have 2 working parents. this changes things slightly with the school run. Assuming the parents have been able to find part time work or their shifts permit one of them can take the child to school and one could pick them up. This means the school run is no longer a stand alone task but can actually be a stop off point on the way to or from work, evidence of this can be seen with many parents in works uniform or logo'd clothing.

4, School age
  Many schools are still housed in the Victorian buildings that were built in the middle of villages which have been consumed by the urban sprawl . Or they late 1960's and 1970's, all of which were times when cars were not only a luxury but also a relative rarity. This means just like many housing developments of the same age they were built without the capacity for parking that we now.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION

Well back in 2000,2001&2002 I was an opposition councillor for Belgrave and was invited along with a select group of local residents,councillors,head teachers and staff to attend a "safe routes to school" local committee because Birds Bush, St Gabriel's and Lakeside had been picked for the latest round of funding. I wont go into all the details but I will tell you about how my suggestion was thrown out.

  Birds Bush road in Tamworth is a estate loop road with wide grass verges and footpaths either side, along this loop there is a high school and a primary with nursery (that used to have a goat).

   I suggested that due to the daily congestion and parking issues take advantage of the wide verges and create parking bays either side of the road to allow parents to park safely without blocking the carriageway and therefore make it a safer place, the answers I got still astound me.

   "No we can't do that. The government policy (at the time) for safe routes to school is that any grant funding spent should be used to slow traffic down and discourage people using the car, your scheme will allow traffic to flow at speed and make it easier for people to use their cars"

And being in opposition at the time I quickly lost the debate. I still think I was right but we got speed humps

So what do we do?

• I Walk my children to school, 1.4mile round trip, more of us should if we can, it less stressful. and good for exercise and mental health. 
• Remember our highway code. Do not park on the foot path. Stop at a zebra crossing when people are waiting whether or not there is a crossing person there.
• Don't offload the most important thing in the world ,your child, into a live lane. Use the nearside door and let your child out onto a path or verge. 
• Planning committees etc when considering school building applications should ensure that drop of points are included and become a standard for new schools along with fire sprinklers. 
• Councils need to do more when planning schools in new developments, future proof the access routes.
• Just be considerate to others including residents and other parents and be polite it costs nothing

Whilst walking home from school with my 8 year old recently we talked about the number of cars on the route and we noted that including his school there are 3 in the area. My son asked the simple question "why don't the schools all have different start times half an hour apart?" this was followed with "my school can start at 10 so I get a lie in!"

I do wonder what appetite would be for local park and rides, such as park at Morrison's for a shuttle bus to the Belgrave schools, Wilnecote co-op for shuttle bus to Wilnecote and Dosthill schools etc etc. 

picture found on google search

Housing crisis !

There are 25 million homes in the UK housing a population of 65,255,164 (at time of writing) with an average age of 40. As the population continues to grow the government aims to build 1 million more homes before 2020, which equates to a growth of 4%

So first thing, do we need more homes ? according to the ONS the answer is yes and the main reason for population growth is the birth rate being higher than the death rate.

Births and deaths by year

Lets not ignore the current situation with housing prices in both the rented and owner occupier markets. To me these high prices are simply a case of supply and demand, there's high demand and short supply so competition drives prices up.

I think there are 2 different parts to this discussion, one is about who, where and how, the other is about the type, style and build of housing.

Not a year goes by in Tamworth without the question being asked, does Tamworth need more homes? and the supplementary question where else can more houses go we have built nearly everywhere now and brownfield is running out.

 The government has pushed house building for local authorities and has incentivised local councils to be pro house building. This has been a 2 pronged attack and may well have been necessary for many places but I have repeatedly said I feel Tamworth has provided above its share of new housing over the last 50 years. So what is the incentive to continue to approve housing? New Homes Bonus. This bonus is as ever not entirely simple but the council will get 6 years worth (reducing to 4 years)  of council tax for each new property completed from the government as well as the council tax collected via the normal means. OK its a bit more involved than this but I'm keeping it simple. And at the same time the austerity measures we see mean that all councils no matter of geography or population will have to be self sustaining and no longer rely on an annual government grant. I personally think this is a good scheme particularly in prompting local authorities to start allowing new build, Its a fact that for the last 40 years not enough housing has been allowed and now we are in this situation of too few houses. Tamworth however has never stopped building houses and has made its contribution.

 So the pressure is on to squeeze more housing in.

 Late last year we saw on Sky news, and read in news papers that the government sees 100,000 pre- fabricated houses could provide some of the answers as they are cheap and can be put up in a day. I think there might be something in this as long as these prefabs are done correctly and are either given a appropriate life span to be replaced or are built in a way that does not store up the same problem for a near future time.

   Pre-fabricated housing is nothing new and looking at today's media you could very easily think that the only time we have used them is during the post war 1940's and 1950's. but this is not the case, it was not many years ago that John Prescott visited Castle Bromwich to watch prefabricated timber frames for housing being put together. the company in question was Space 4 and the visit was featured on  BBC west midlands . for those that aren't aware at the time Space4 were supplying timber houses to Westbury homes who built a brick wall layer around the timber house, this reduced the price and increased the speed of building and happened a lot in the early 2000's though I'm not sure if it still does.

  I have often taken my family away on holiday and whilst its only been for short periods I have always noticed or even admired the efficient use of space that static caravans have. there are many people in the UK who live in static caravans and in mobile homes. if the efficiency of this type of housing could be used when building in the future we may be able to provide cheaper quality housing with more space around them in the same tight land availability. My grandmother lived in sunset close in her later years and whilst it was a great bungalow the space was certainly not efficiently used, with thick walls, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge all connected through a hallway/corridor without any interconnecting rooms. This to me screams out to be learnt from when building smaller dwellings. I've stayed in caravans less that 12ft x 40ft with 2 en suites a kitchen diner, lounge and 3 bedrooms

   So maybe small units with high spacial efficiency of a high quality prefab type may well be part of the answer.........but please lets not build stacks of rabbit hutches.

 I have argued that if each village in the midlands were to expand in a sympathetic way, maybe 100 homes on each, they could maintain the village renaissance and address some of the housing crisis. The side benefit would be supporting local shops post offices and pubs assuming the village had not already lost theirs. This is a sensitive point and would need to be done right to maintain character.
Instead the councils of Lichfield and North Warwickshire are that afraid of development in their back gardens they are fully intent of building on our borders!!! Robeys lane to the M42 and the north of Tamworth along Lichfield's borders will become extensions of Tamworth with green space between them and the town or city they pay their council tax to. Tamworth residents are being ignored by our neighbours and so we get development times 3. .

God forbid that this point is linked to the below on as I do not what a Judge Dredd style megalopolis of the mega cities

   One solution has already been tried and tested with various levels of success and that is building upwards, the success of this type of housing very much depends on where you are in the world and the assumed usages these have in many parts of the UK. In Tamworth do we have flats and maisonettes or do we offer Luxury condos with a river view. Lets face it we have flats and apartments which are often used to support the affordable housing need of a development to gain the planning permission and stay compliant.

Tamworth has it's fair share of apartment type accommodation but the demand for 2 bed properties is huge and whilst I believe an individual must be able to sit outside in the fresh air not everyone wants to have a garden.

 I remember one of the early Tamworth Listens where a member of the public suggested we build along the river with luxury apartments and the ground floor ones having moorings etc. Another suggestion I heard many years prior to councils being given the right to charge market rents for housing (should they wish) and this was to one by one empty the H block in Stonydelph as people left so not re let, Then once empty redevelop these as luxury apartments with panoramic views of Tamworth, generating an income for the housing department and raising the building out of some of the problems it had at the time.


I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is but I do know we need to look at all the options available and be creative with our solutions.

So becoming a bit nimby myself, Tamworth has done its bit and its now in the situation of going over and above whilst others haven't pulled their weight.


NOW THE BIG QUESTION..
house building is one thing but infrastructure MUST be in place to serve new development.. This is a topic for a whole new entry but expansion does not offer the same opportunities as new towns.

....MORE ON INFRASTRUCTURE TO FOLLOW

Please follow this link to see some of my thoughts on Tamworth Town Centre

Lorries to be banned from London ?

   Ok I may be biased or prejudiced on the matter of heavy goods vehicles but I must share my opinion on this, road safety is a priority and more must be done to protect cyclist on our increasingly busy roads.  I  just feel there needs to be some extra care here to make sure the outcomes are what was intended.

   The figures I have used are from this sky news article, HGVs were involved in 23% of pedestrian fatalities over the last two years and 58% of cyclist deaths, the mayor's office said. Lorries account for just 4% of all miles driven in the capital. These figures are quite horrific, 58% of cyclist deaths within 4% of over all mileage. The figures that are missing are those for incidents involving cyclists, HGV's and other vehicles which do not result in fatalities. One of the tragic elements of this subject if that due to the weight, size and construction of a lorry if there is contact between one and a cyclist the outcomes are some what limited. 

  In London, the UK and in general people do not drive lorries just for fun, they drive them to make money by delivering goods (however that doesn't mean they can't enjoy driving). 

 Obviously there are different sizes of lorry but just to make this point I will assume that the ones in question are a standard artic size with trailer and I am going to avoid other complexities such as fridges, waste management, builders/maintenance etc . All shops, restaurants, cafes offices etc etc need to take deliveries have good collected by vehicle. the capacity of lorries means that a large quantity of goods can be delivered to single or multiple destination with a single limited mileage, limited trips and limited resource in all definitions. If all of these goods were delivered by smaller vehicles there would need to be significantly more vehicles on the streets of London. 
     Many shops use roll on roll off cages for deliveries, a double deck trailer can carry around cages, with a tail lift to lift them in and out of the trailer down to street level, a white panel van, may get 3 cages on and if fitted with a heavy tail lift or ramp this figure may reduce based on gross vehicle weight. SO, if a fleet of vans (sprinters or transits etc) were to replace a double deck articulated lorry with its limited lines of vision the fleet would need 25 vans. That's 25 drivers and 25 times the amount of mileage per lorry removed

     One of the main threads of the argument for banning lorries is the lines of visibility. I am sure that this is an area that can be developed on lorries but there must also be other options such as goods vehicle permitted times, These can be investigated and do not have to follow the traditional methods of night time only deliveries, Or maybe cycle/none HGV routes and none cycle/HGV routes to segregate the different vehicles but facilitating the needs of businesses and workers. 

I just feel more thought needs to go into this before the roads of London are blocked with an invasion of vans making the deliveries of a few lorries and there is even less space for cyclist to travel freely and safely.