Perth and Kinross is leading the battle against potholes on Scotland’s major roads, the latest figures have revealed.
The local authority is out performing its counterparts in tackling maintenance but concentrating on A class roads will have an impact on less important routes, members of the enterprise and infrastructure committee will be told on Wednesday.
The task is considerable with the council having responsibility for maintaining roads and associated infrastructure such as bridges with a replacement value in the region of £3.28 billion.
“Perth and Kinross Council continues to perform well in comparison to other Scottish councils in the respect that the roads are in a better condition and that response times are better,” said a council spokesperson in advance of the meeting.
“The council’s cost per kilometre of network remain consistently below average through robust management of our road network.
“Improvement in the council’s performance is a reflection of the implementation of the council’s approved roads maintenance strategy which targets the A class network and this is predicted to further improve over time.
“However, in order to ensure that the A class roads are prioritised there will be a planned deterioration of some B and C class roads.”
In terms of road safety implications the data reveals that 100% of the most serious problems, “category one defects”, have been rectified or made safe within three hours of notification – compared to a national average of under 90%.
An increase in the number of routine safety inspections compared to the previous year were also recorded.
The council has also achieved its target of 100% of all non-emergency maintenance call outs within seven days for the last two financial years.
Councillor John Kellas, convener of the enterprise and infrastructure committee, said: “In Perth and Kinross we have a huge network of roads, over 1500km, that needs to be maintained.
“While this has a massive impact in terms of both time and cost to do, it is reassuring to see that we are managing to maintain a consistent standard.”
The council say it is not resting on its laurels and is currently undertaking a review with Dundee city and Angus councils to build on existing partnership working and develop the collaborative approach to the maintenance of the local roads network
