York paving slabs damaged by jet-washing

UP to £10,000 could be spent on repairs to paving slabs in Henley market place.

The town council is to seek a contractor to carry out repointing work after the York stone was loosened by repeated jet-washing of the area.

The slabs were installed in 2008 as part of a £1 million programme to resurface for the town centre pavements.

They cost twice as much as regular paving but it was expected that local businesses would benefit from increased footfall.

A meeting of the council’s town and community committee heard that years of deep cleaning had caused structural damage.

Streets throughout the town centre are deep- cleaned about once a year.

Councillor David Eggleton, a former highways contractor, said: “When you jet-wash stuff you do blow the joints out — it’s not the best way to clean York stone. It also takes the pigment out. If you turned the stone over it would be a completely different colour.

“You shouldn’t keep jet washing it as you’re taking the structure out of the stone.”

Councillor Will Hamilton suggested including money for the repair work in the draft budget for next financial year, beginning on April 1.

Town clerk Sheridan
Jacklin-Edward said: “The difficulty is finding contractors and understanding the remit because there is a lot of York paving in Henley.

“We need to know what we want them to quote for. It could cost hundreds of thousands or it could be less but until we have a better idea and decide exactly what approach we want to take it would be difficult to budget for. We could do different areas in a phased approach.”

Councillor Ian Reissmann suggested budgeting for only the work in Market Place first.

He said: “I think there is a feeling that we should treat that differently and maintain it to a higher standard.

“If we are seriously considering spending money on the pavement in Market Place then I think Councillor Hamilton’s suggestion to put money in the budget pending quotes does make sense.

“There will be sympathy for spending money on it and our budget needs to reflect what our likely plans are.” Mr Jacklin-Edward said: “The town council has no greater obligation to maintain Market Place than any other area but in principle, as we use it so much and it’s one of our amenities, we do tend to look after it.

“Market Place only is an easier place to get a quote for and we can probably stab in the dark at a figure of about £10,000.”

The committee agreed to recommend adding £10,000 to the draft budget for the work to be done next year pending quotes from contractors.

Meanwhile, the pavement on Henley Bridge will be repaired in the new year.

In August, some paving stones on the Grade I listed crossing were damaged by heavy goods vehicles and temporary repairs were made by Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority.

Tarmac was laid on the damaged section as there was not enough time to replace the slabs before Henley Royal Regatta.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak, who represents Henley on the council, said: “There will be an inspection in the next couple of weeks. They will be coming up with a scheme to get it done in the new year.”