Repairs to Ludlow roads are 'not up to standard', say councillors

Lower Corve Street in Ludlow was resurfaced once in 2013, but the work was later judged by the council to be substandard, and it was re-done in 2014.

Now it has been revealed it will need to be done again but council bosses say it will not be at the taxpayers' expense.

Ludlow North ward councillor Andy Boddington said: "It's completely eroded down the middle of the road, it's sort of coming apart and peeling off.

"Yet this was only done last summer, and what's more it was done the summer before that. So we're going to have this done again this year and in the meantime the residents get all that inconvenience."

Bishop's Castle Councillor Charlotte Barnes said it wasn't the only road surfacing job that had left residents angry and frustrated.

She said: "It's been apparent for some time that the council's main contractors, Ringway, have a very uneven standard of delivery which is causing some local residents a great deal of aggravation. The same happened on the main road through Marton and this spring will see the road resurfaced for the third time because of poor workmanship.

"Although Ringway has to pay the cost of this remedial work, it doesn't pay for officer time or the inconvenience to residents.

"These communities have now had inadequate surfaces for at least three years."

She said it was not simply quality control that needed to be tightened up, but also the deadline for remedial work to be carried out.

"Residents must not be left for months waiting for botched jobs to be made good," she said.

Claire Wild, Shropshire Council cabinet member for highways, said: "Lower Corve Street was resurfaced in 2013 by our contractor, Ringway, but the surface still wasn't satisfactory so was resurfaced again in 2014 and is scheduled to be resurfaced again to ensure the surface is of the highest standard. Subsequent works are at the expense of Ringway.

"The council will only ever pay once for roadworks to be done and we are disappointed with the quality of work in this instance and have taken up our concerns with the senior management at Ringway."