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. 

22/03 Terror in broad daylight

In this blog I am going to try to look at the act of terrorism and also respond to a thought provoking tweet I received today.

Yesterday we witnessed a man deliberately driving along a footpath mowing people down, crashed the car, ran towards parliament and stabbing a police officer. As I write this 4 people have been killed, 4 families have lost someone and many more affected in this incident. Innocent people going about their daily business.

Praise, Thanks, Thoughts and Prayers  go out the family and friends of Keith Palmer and the others who died yesterday. And also to all Emergency services, members of the public and Tobias Elwood who all selflessly stayed on the front line and tried to help the injured.

Earlier I was listening girl Brendan Cox, who lost his wife in a terror attack last summer, whilst I can't directly quote him, his point was we see people in isolation often characterised by their profession but everyone has a back story they are a father mother sister brother etc. what I would say about profession and isolation there of is that some people go to work to just earn money others go to work not only for a wage but because they believe in what they do.

 I going to quickly refer to the tweet I was in copy yesterday.

   that's the story? . Police officer and 2 others dead but mp locked in is the story!!!

I have now had more information about this tweet and I have clearly Miss understood, the point was about attempts to create s local story and not as I'd assumed. please scroll to the end for update

 I suppose it depends what eyes you are looking through. I've included above my narrative on what i saw through the media, but as for the story, I saw something bigger than whats suggested in the tweet. so I'm going to split this into 2 parts.
    Part 1 an individual caused a number of incidents which triggered a Blue Light response, Their role includes protection of all and our way of life, cordons were put in place and then the area cleared. The area being cleared included a building with over 1000 people in some were emergency services some were administrators, visitors, researchers, MP's, Business people, managers even school children so in light of the situation just outside the building the last thing emergency services need is all these people spilling out into danger or endangering those already caught up in the incident and so lock down the building. Its not only safer for them its also a potentially large problem that can be dealt with later. I fully believe the emergency services did the right thing.
    Part 2 Yes that group of people included MP's. Now in the UK we have a hatred of MP's and a feeling that these people aren't worthy of protection. MP's work really hard to try and improve the Uk or manage particular problems, despite common belief these people work very long hours and put in a great deal of effort. I know Tamworth MP not only increased the number of hours he worked but also took a pay cut when leaving his job to be an MP.
Not one politician that I know is there to cause any harm or distress to anyone they are there for the right reasons the issues become clouded when it comes to priorities and the public purse.
  Despite the above, we have the right to elect and MP to represent our needs and so I do believe they should be protected as should the public and international visitors who walk around London and enjoy the freedom our democracy and services provide for us.


The Uk is no stranger to Terrorism

Wikipedia has a great page listing attacks since 1970

I remember as many of us do some of the troubles we have had, I was in Brighton when the Grand Hotel was bombed, I visited London the week after the 7/7 bombings, i remember reading about the soldiers being shot at Lichfield station.
This week we heard of the death of Martin McGuiness a few years a go we saw tributes following the death of Nelson Mandela and now we are focused on the group who attempt to hide behind Islam. for me it doesn't matter what the cause, it doesn't matter whether its instructed, lone wolf or someone just pushed over the edge. Anyone who creates fear, panic and ultimately injury and death is acting in a terrorist manner, they are terrorising other people.
The above named people moved away from violence and began to negotiate, it was only at that stage that they made progress, (I know there is a whole debate as to who called who terrorists with these)
It has been said a number times but its still true we must not give in to terrorism.

And we must not punish the innocent in the way that terrorist are trying to, we must not let ourselves be consumed by the hatred.
An Irish man I know had his vehicle vandalised repeatedly in the 1974's following the Birmingham pub bombings, it had nothing to do with him. The Muslim community talking their children to school today should not be judged because this guy in London may have been inspired by a terrorist group using their religion.


Again, a massive thank you to all who protect us and they way we live in the UK.

The tweet I referenced at the top was about the localisation of a story and the reference to the local MP not as I interpreted it. I do have to agree with the tweet in regards to the fact that this terrible incident is terrible regardless of whether it has a local angle.

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