Speeding up repairs

RESIDENTS of Watlington could be trained to officially identify potholes.

Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, has offered the parish council the chance to be part of its Fix My Street “super-users” programme.

The website is used by the county council to log defects such as potholes and blocked drains and the super-users scheme is being trialled to help resolve problems more quickly.

Participants are trained to identify different types of pothole according to how dangerous they are. Those categorized as high priority should be fixed within 24 to 48 hours and those with a lower priority should be repaired within 28 days.

Matt Reid, who chairs the parish council. said: “You can choose to do it when it’s dry.”

Shiplake parish councillor David Pheasant and villager Ernie Povey were some of the first people in Oxfordshire to be trained as “super-users” in June.