Highway reporting 'to be reviewed' after four-foot hole appears in Grotton street

Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani says he has received assurances that a review of the reporting of highways issues at Oldham Council will take place, after a four-foot hole in a Grotton street was reported as 'completed'.

When Saddleworth West and Lees Cllr Al-Hamdani first reported the issue, there was a small sunken section of the road on the junction of Thornley Park Road and Station Lane.

It was promptly picked up by the Council team for work, inspected, and a repair started.

However, Cllr Al-Hamdani states that after the highways system issued a 'completed' notice, he was surprised to later find the area surrounded by bollards, covered over with a temporary plate, under which was a much larger hole, several feet deep.

Despite reporting this to the highways team, two weeks later the repair was still marked as complete, so Councillor Al-Hamdani took it up with senior managers.

Cllr Al-Hamdani said: “It really makes a mockery of the system when you can turn up to a great big hole in the floor that someone has marked as ‘complete’.

"It means you have no idea if work is in progress, or if it has fallen through the cracks.

"There is a lot of good work going on, but it gets completely undermined when something like this happens – if you can’t always trust what you are told, it means more work for everyone; double checking, updating the system, chasing up.”

Having spoken to the highways officers, Mr Al-Hamdani says that the team have agreed to review the problems with the reporting system.

Cllr Al-Hamdani added: “The first part of the system is very good, and I would encourage people to use it.

"I regularly get problems with potholes fixed all across the ward – in the past week, we have had the teams out doing repairs on Belmont Avenue and Stoneleigh Road.

"However, the system seems to break down once there is a complex problem.

“In this case, the repair has disappeared into this black hole of reporting, from which it is very difficult to ever get anything back out.

"The Council must make sure that its systems work all the way through.

"Clear communication is essential, as is making sure that more complex problems have a clear way of being dealt with.”

Cllr Al-Hamdani has confirmed that the highways team have acknowledged that the repairs are still ongoing.

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