Pendleton to award Gold for pothole repairs
Olympic cycling champion to recognize UK councils doing the best job at repairing potholes
OLYMPIC and World Champion track cyclist Victoria Pendleton is to personally recognize UK councils doing the best job at repairing potholes. She is supporting an awards scheme launched last month by Aggregate Industries, which will see UK councils being judged on repairs to potholes as reported via the website www.fillthathole.org.uk, which is run by award scheme partners CTC – The UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation.
With an average of one pothole for every 110m of road in the UK, and the number of potholes set to exceed 2 million for the first time this year, dealing with the country’s pothole crisis is key to road safety. Yet the problem is set to worsen with budgets being squeezed: England’s £871 million annual road maintenance budget for 2010/11 will be slashed to £806 million next financial year, with year-on-year cuts up to 2015/16.
Victoria Pendleton said: ‘Following more bad weather this winter, potholes are still a serious problem for road users, particularly people cycling to work or school, cycling for fun, keeping fit, or even cycling professionally. I’m getting involved because anything that showcases pothole repairs and encourages councils to improve their roads has to be a good thing for both cyclists and motorists.’
The top performing councils will meet Victoria and receive awards at a private presentation in May. The FillThatHole website, created by CTC in 2007, receives an average of 29 pothole reports per day. So far it has fed 43,000 reports of road defects directly to the relevant highway authority.
Last year, Aggregate Industries sponsored the development of a FillThatHole iPhone app so that cyclists can report potholes when they are out and about.
OLYMPIC and World Champion track cyclist Victoria Pendleton is to personally recognize UK councils doing the best job at repairing potholes. She is supporting an awards scheme launched last month by Aggregate Industries, which will see UK councils being judged on repairs to potholes as reported via the website www.fillthathole.org.uk, which is run by award scheme partners CTC – The UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation.
With an average of one pothole for every 110m of road in the UK, and the number of potholes set to exceed 2 million for the first time this year, dealing with the country’s pothole crisis is key to road safety. Yet the problem is set to worsen with budgets being squeezed: England’s £871 million annual road maintenance budget for 2010/11 will be slashed to £806 million next financial year, with year-on-year cuts up to 2015/16.
Victoria Pendleton said: ‘Following more bad weather this winter, potholes are still a serious problem for road users, particularly people cycling to work or school, cycling for fun, keeping fit, or even cycling professionally. I’m getting involved because anything that showcases pothole repairs and encourages councils to improve their roads has to be a good thing for both cyclists and motorists.’
The top performing councils will meet Victoria and receive awards at a private presentation in May. The FillThatHole website, created by CTC in 2007, receives an average of 29 pothole reports per day. So far it has fed 43,000 reports of road defects directly to the relevant highway authority.
Last year, Aggregate Industries sponsored the development of a FillThatHole iPhone app so that cyclists can report potholes when they are out and about.
