‘Botched’ road recoating work angers residents

RESIDENTS in a road in Wargrave have spoken of their anger at a “botched” repair job which they say the council have “failed” to acknowledge despite contacting them more than
20 times.

Homeowners in Watermans Way have challenged Wokingham Borough Council for about 14 months over a section of the road from the lead-up to Val Wyatt Marina and the end of the cul-de-sac.

The “recoating” had been carried out last summer as a continuation of work which had begun about four years prior. However, villagers have blasted the latest work as “bog-standard”.

Philip Meadowcroft, who lives with his wife Jill, has contacted the council on behalf of 12 residents in the road dozens of times requesting acknowledgment of the defects.

He said the previous work had been satisfactory, however this recoating was unacceptable.

Mr Meadowcroft sent on pictures of parts of the road to show the condition it has been left in and flooding caused after four hours of rainfall.

It shows where potholes have not been buffered to the edge.

Neighbours have been left frustrated that the work had been left unfinished which has allowed weeds to grow within the asphalt.

Mr Meadowcroft said: “The correspondence is tear-jerking. [We’ve] paid money through council tax for work which is shoddy.

“The standards have got to be maintained here and we don’t want to slide into this kind of cheapness, which is going to have to be rectified soon, because the whole thing is not going to last. The surface on that covering has not been amended in any way, shape or form and that’s cheap. It’s bog-standard.

“I’ve had correspondence with our local ward councillors but they have been reduced to being just postboxes.

“I’m angered at the lack of professionalism, both in terms of the engineering of botched recoating and the administration of our local authority.”

He added that heavy goods vehicles travelling to the marina have also churned up the recoating because they are forced to turn around a sharp bend.

Mr Meadowcroft has raised an official complaint with the borough council.

He followed their stage two complaints procedure, where a qualitative assessment of the work is required.

A letter from the customer relations officer for the council said the work was inspected “several times” throughout the year.

They said: “Issues such as pooling and vegetation growth at the road edge have been reviewed and are not classed as defects in the works but ‘minor’ imperfections consistent with this type of treatment.

“I appreciate, from the residents’ perspective, these imperfections may appear to reflect poor workmanship. However, based on the council’s standards, inspections and contractor warranty, the works are considered to have met the specification.”

A council spokeswoman said: “It’s not designed to create a perfectly smooth finish, so some minor imperfections are normal and expected.

“The site has been inspected several times and it was confirmed that the treatment meets the required specification and is performing as intended.”