Monday, 21 October 2013

The 'new ' Ulverston cobbles are in safe hands

Great to find a Cumbria County Council worker that insists on doing a brilliant job.


It's incredible but an electricity cable was smashed through the water drain outside the Sun some years ago and they are now trying to reconnect the drain so that it removes the water rather than it soaking away - into the Sun's cellar.



The really bad news is that Nick Raymond is back at the helm of CCC Highways - Southern Area. He could well have been in charge when this electrical contractor did his work: Raymond, I understand, rarely checked the work contractors did. A chance for him now to show us what a good job he can do. Perhaps this will be an example of the standard of work that will be now done under his supervision: an example to live up to.

Our county councillors James Airey and Mark Wilson will hopefully keep tabs on him in the future and this job in particular.

In this particular case the cobbles will need to be set in place using Ultracrete which is a strong frost resistant cement used for relaying the cobbles all down Market Street.

My experience and that of most people I have talked to is that Raymond is very arrogant and doesn't check on the work of contactors.

Some years ago United Utilities stated that their contractors, Balfour Beatty never had their worked checked when they replaced the water main the full length of Market Street digging holes through the cobbles in about 15 places. They admitted that very shoddy work had been done when we approached them and agreed to make repairs themselves or pay CCC Highways to do the work, I got a cheque for £25.

I and the Ulverston Town Council got nowhere with CCC when we complained about the state of the cobbles - we were all ignored by Raymond whereas United Utilities immediately responded. United Utilities had a reputation to maintain. We trust that this has now changed.

1 comment:

Geoff Dellow said...

Work continues on Thursdays Market day to solve the problem of the blocked drain and a new set of workman set to on a new hole through the cobbles at the corner of New Market and the Market Square. The Mayor and her husband, Colin called by to ask questions and check progress. Great to see.