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Sheffield: Bad weather blamed for road repair delays

Writer's picture: Safer Highways Safer Highways

Contractor Amey has blamed bad weather for a backlog of repairs on minor roads in Sheffield.


The company has a contract with Sheffield City Council to look after all aspects of highway maintenance.


Adverse weather at the start of the year "limited Amey's ability" to tackle a growing list of jobs, a report to the council said.


Extra resources to fix defects had been brought in but had not yet cut the backlog, Amey said.


The £2.2bn Streets Ahead improvement contract, which runs until 2037, was discussed by a council committee on Wednesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.


A report to the committee said Amey proposed to apply additional resource to address the backlog of raised defects and "early results show that the backlog is not reducing".


"However, council officers acknowledge that adverse weather conditions experienced in recent months have limited Amey's ability to target reductions on this backlog," the report said.


The company had already failed to meet its contract requirements for carriageway and footway surfacing in 2021/22 and has been working on an improvement plan since April 2022.


The report said that repairs to hazardous potholes more than 1.5in (40mm) in depth have shown good performance throughout the year, averaging 99.5% per month up to the end of January.


Councillor Joe Otten said it was "slightly baffling that there are over 10 years on this contract to go and if things are this bad now they are only going to get worse".


He asked if there was a conversation to be had to make sure things got better.


Mohammed Edroos, the council's assistant director for highways maintenance, said that conversations has already started with Amey to see what can be maximised within the terms of the contract.


Complaints to Amey were being resolved in good time following hiring extra staff for the customer services team, the report said.


Fly-tipping had showed a 15% increase over the last quarter compared with 2023, mainly involving bagged household waste left beside street litter bins.


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