Even Labour Councillor Colin Pickthall supports the Cobbles Cock up by Cumbria County Highways

When will councillors start working with members of the community to make a really effective force working for the benefit of Ulverston ?

Colin  replies in defence of the work down Market Street that has been so disruptive - and in my view should never have been done in this way in the first place. Even now we are faced with more of the same in the new year.
Note , at the bottom, District and Town Councillor, Helen  Irving disagrees with Colin's approach.

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On 18 Nov 2012, at 21:42, J PICKTHALL wrote:

Dear Geff,

I had a look this evening (having just returned home from London.)  I think the workmen have left the bottom end of Market Street in good shape.

I also think they have done a very decent job so far and have had to work mostly in dreadful conditions, and were exceedingly thoughtful - and even cheerful - in their dealings with the public.

Cheers,

Colin pickthall

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Thanks Colin,

I see we are agreed for the most part. However you choose to totally ignore my main point - the work should never have needed doing in the first place and that councillors in the past have not worked with people in the our community namely Roz Harris (from Ulverston and United Utilities) and myself to campaign effectively.

What you say is true - the workmen who were travelling all the way from Nescastle were doing a great job and suffered a fair bit of hassle from shopkeepers who weren't being reassured by local politicians . The reported statements by Councillor Airey that the whole job would be finished in four weeks was unfortunate.

In your brief reply, as far I can tell,  you ignore  my main points. We disagree that the quality of the new work is an improvement on the cobbles that had been undisturbed for decades. Have you noticed that the setts are in fact being laid further and further apart with increasing quantities of cement between, each time a fresh contractor does the work. Are we saying then that cement is a superior finish to granite. I suspect that cement is far more vulnerable freezing weather conditions.The quality of work unfortunately can only be determined in twenty years time or more.

The strongest point that I make is that had our Highways Department been doing their job over the past twenty years, then all this work would not have needed doing.

The contractors used by United Utilities demonstrated in the work that was done opposite the Westmorland Gazette office (with close friendly communication with me) that companies requiring access can in fact reach their services under the road, and replace the setts in such a way that a high standard of road surface can be achieved. In a year the new setts can be indistinguishable from the surface surrounding them. Thus with good supervision are good road surface can be maintained.

It seems that you condone the massive expenditure that has been needed and the failure of any councillors including now you, to be critical of the way our Highways Department operate, not only in the past but even now.

Surely the time has come for local councillors to work together with the local community  and support and use their energy in working for the benefit of Ulverston.

Geoff

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From James Airey our Conservative County Councillor

On 16 Nov 2012, at 07:55, Airey, James wrote:

Dear Geoff

I am not aware of any complaints from the Town Council, although they
did wish for the works to be finished or stopped in advance of the
Dickensian festival. There has certainly been many complaints from a
small number of the businesses which has led to the work being halted
until the new year. This is a far from ideal situation and a great shame
because I believe the work being done was to an excellent standard. I
also think that the workmen had done their best to minimise disruption
to traders, residents and shoppers.

Rgds

James.

From: Geoff Dellow
To: "Airey, James"
Cc: Helen Irving ; Judy PICKTHALL ; David Parratt
Sent: Friday, 16 November 2012, 10:56
Subject: Re: Cobbles Market street

Rest assured James, there have been strong criticisms to me from some councillors that I am in touch with.

Thanks you for replying.

The complaints come under three headings

1. That the work should never have been done in the first place as the damage done to the cobbles was minimal and only in small places. As I made you aware previously, successful reinstatement of cobbles was made my United Utilities in a patch opposite the Westmorland Gazette office. Clearly this would have been the way to have tackled the problem. The foreman from Amey that I filmed doing the previous set of work states clearly that the first stretch of cobbles didn't need doing and that Cumbria Highways were crazy doing it. How damning was that.

2. The scheduling of the work was such that the workmen from Colas anticipated that the would not get done before Dickensian, yet it is reported that you stated that the work would be over in four weeks. If the work was to be done , why was it not started a lot earlier? The workmen predicted at the beginning that a temporary surface would have to be laid which inevitably will have increased the cost and disruption. Why couldn't it have been done quicker?

3. The most serious issue is that the work should never have needed doing in the first place and cost the tax payer a penny. Had Nick Raymond the previous head of the local Cumbria Highways Dept. , not operated such a lax regime regarding the accountability of contractors to the work they did when when accessing the services under the road, then the quality of the reinstatement of the cobbles would have been done to the same high standard that United Utilities achieved in their work opposite the Westmorland Gazette offices. The quality work was achieved because, as you knew, I had developed a close relationship with United Utilities as a result of the petition that I presented to them through the Ulverston Town Council. - see below.

Finally, unlike you I am not convinced that the new work that has been done is of high quality. As we have already discussed there is a need for the work on cobbles to be done by a specialist team set up for the whole of Cumbria: it is not one to be given to contractors without proven experience of this specialist field. You will note that the last lot of work done by Colas is very different to the original quality of the areas of good cobbles at the bottom of Market Street. First, the resultant surface is far more  uneven than the original   the setts ( as we both know is their correct term) laid by Colas are widely spaced apart with wide areas of cement between. This will put a great strain from repeated freezing and thawing on the surface of the concrete and hence the gaps between the Setts. Surely the granite, having survived hundred of thousands of years is by far the stronger material, yet over half the new road surface is cement based. Sadly only time will tell but the surface that was dug up between New Market Street and what still remains at the bottom of Market street which has not been damaged by contractors was showing no sign of ware and tare. The original cobbles showed every sign of lasting well over fifty years had they not been attacked by ignorant and badly supervised contractors as has happened in the past.

I do believe that ultimate responsibility for what happens as the result of inept work by our local government officers is the responsibility of our county councillors. I agree that this is a great responsibility and not an easy job and not to be taken on lightly. In my opinion the job requires detailed knowledge of the way officers carry out there duties as well as being responsible for what happens in the council chamber.

What is available is a wealth of local knowledge among the electorate and my experience is that councillors far from encouraging support in this way, even resent what they see as interference. We have a great need for a bottom up system where cllrs harness and motivate the energy of the public  rather than what too often happens, as in this case, the efforts of the public are ignored.

Geoff

The video of Market Street see http://youtu.be/njFDTNhhr58 was taken in Jan 2011 shows the relevant road surface and repairs that were accomplished by United Utilities.

This video shows the opinions of the Amey contractors to what they were being asked to do last year http://youtu.be/eh4l55AQs7A

Note below some of the correspondence with United Utillities



-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Dellow [mailto:gd@tygh.co.uk]
Sent: 13 November 2012 13:03
To: Airey, James
Cc: Helen Irving; Judy PICKTHALL
Subject: Cobbles Market street

James, Helen and Colin,

Is there anything that can be done to rescue the situation regarding
work on the cobbles stopping now until next year?

The workmen tell me that they are being stopped as from tomorrow
Wednesday. This implies that there will be a large stretch of market
street with no surface on and that the men will be out of work until it
resumes some time in the future.

Isn't it possible for work on the cobbles to continue until the present
lot are laid  and before Dickensian which ever is first ? The workmen
were predicting that work would take longer than four weeks when they
started.

The workers tell me that there have been too many complaints from
shopkeepers and from "the council".

It would seem there has been an almighty cock up.

Geoff

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From: Helen Irving
Date: 13 November 2012 21:38:49 GMT
To: gd@tygh.co.uk
Subject: Re Cobbles
Reply-To:

Hi
I totally agree with what you are saying i do beleive the reason they
are stopping is because of one shop owner.
Helen