Sign E-Petition - A Strategic Mandate for All-Weather Road Repairs: Ending the Managed Decline of Vale of Glamorgan Infrastructure

The Action we want the Council to take We petition the Vale of Glamorgan Council to formally abandon its current weather dependent and contractor dependent highways maintenance policy, which is inappropriate and incompatible with the Welsh climate, and instead implement a modern, high productivity in house strategy. This petition highlights that public safety is at risk under the current strategy; year on year, this model fails to provide durable repairs, causes damage to vehicles, and puts residents at risk. The current managed decline is not sustainable and is unacceptable. The Council’s reliance on traditional hot mix materials results in road repairs being suspended for approximately 41% of the year due to rain; this is absurd, as winter is precisely when road repairs are needed most. The Council Leader recently stated in a Full Council meeting that the authority "continually embraces new technologies"; if this is the case, the Council should push forward with the proven solutions within this petition. This strategy must embrace innovation by swapping the current reliance on 5 to 6 man contractor crews, who spend hours performing manual "patch and go" repairs, for a highly efficient mechanised system using the JCB Pothole Pro, which can prepare a pothole in just 8 minutes. Furthermore, the Council must transition from environmentally unfriendly hot mix methods to HAPAS approved cold lay polymer materials that work effectively in all weathers to provide permanent, high quality repairs. While the Council admits that current repair methods are failing to clear the backlog and that new technologies are not being progressed due to a lack of internal resources, residents can no longer accept managed decline. The Vale of Glamorgan faces an estimated £50 million backlog for road repairs. This crisis has grown since approximately 2010, when the Council moved from a proactive preventative road resurfacing model to the current "patch and go" repair strategy. We demand that the Council stops relying on contractor controlled methods that provide poor value for money at approximately £735 per pothole and instead transitions to a robust in house strategy by:

• Procuring Dedicated In House JCB Pothole Pro Units: We call for the Council to move away from relying on a shared contractor owned machine. We demand at least one, ideally two, dedicated units owned and operated by the Council. This technology is proven to increase productivity by 600% and can reduce repair costs from the current contractor rates of approximately £735 to just £30 per pothole.

• Improving Durability and Mandating Right First Time Standards: The Council recently stated that only 1.3% of their repairs fail. However, this figure is misleading as it likely only counts immediate defects. The Council has failed to provide figures on how many repairs break down months later; once a repair is signed off, future failure is often logged as a "new" defect. While the Council claims success, residents see almost every repair fail within 6 to 12 months. When long term durability is measured, the failure rate for manual repairs is far more likely to be closer to 97%. The Council must take responsibility, perform proper audits of repair durability, and present this data transparently.

• Transitioning to All Weather HAPAS Polymer Materials: We call for the immediate adoption of polymer modified cold lay materials such as Ultracrete, Viafix, or EzStreet. Unlike the Roadmender system, these "bag to hole" polymers require no specialist heating equipment and are engineered to displace water and bond permanently in wet conditions, which hot mix materials cannot do.

• Clearing the £50 Million Backlog by 2029: National data indicates that roads in Wales are currently only resurfaced once every 108 years. We demand a 3 year robust and precise repair plan to clear the deficit and return our roads to a safe, sustainable standard. The Council must present a clear strategy for tackling both main highways and residential towns and villages, ensuring communities are not left with ineffective, temporary fixes.

Reasons why this action is necessary

1. The Reality of Works Order Success The Council cites over 15,000 works orders completed annually, yet this figure includes unrelated tasks like hedge cutting and sign cleaning. In reality, the number of actual pothole repairs is significantly lower, typically ranging between only 2,500 and 4,000 repairs annually. By grouping these statistics with general maintenance, the Council is masking a productivity crisis.

2. The 41% Productivity Gap It rains for approximately 150 days a year in Wales. Traditional hot mix asphalt cannot bond to a wet surface, meaning crews are effectively unproductive for five months of the year. By switching to water tolerant polymers, the Council can remain 100% productive year round, fixing the roads when the damage is actually occurring in winter.

3. Addressing Inefficient Spending The Council’s reliance on external contractors adds profit margins and overheads to every repair. Bringing the high tech Pothole Pro model in house would pay for the equipment in the first year alone through savings on contractor fees and the elimination of repeat emergency repairs.

4. Addressing the Resurfacing Crisis If the Council continues its current resurfacing cycle, the network will collapse. We are currently in a state of managed decline where temporary patches are used to bridge a century long gap. High quality permanent polymer repairs are the only way to protect the lower structural layers of our roads from total failure.

5. Public Safety and Active Travel The Council cannot successfully promote Active Travel while the roads are hazardous. For a motorcyclist or cyclist, a pothole is not a nuisance; it is a life threatening obstacle. A safe, sustainable infrastructure is the prerequisite for any successful transport policy.

Conclusion The decision now rests with the Council. You can continue with a failing outsourced strategy that waits for the rain to stop, or you can become a national leader by investing in technology that works in the Welsh climate. Fix it right, fix it once.