Crawley Observer Column 20th August 2014

This week in my Crawley Observer column which is below the picture, I have written about West Sussex County Council's Better Roads Programme. Unlike Labour Councillors in Crawley who sit around moaning about our roads and trying to make political capital out of it, I get on and do something about it.


"This summer, I’m sure many readers will have noticed road resurfacing or surface dressing treatment taking place in Crawley. The increase in works to improve our roads is part of the £30 million Better Roads that West Sussex County Council is implementing across the entire County over two years.

The Better Roads Programme came about after successive cold winters and the record cold spring of 2013 that had advanced the deterioration of the road network. In recognising the need for comprehensive action, the County Council set up a Working Group last summer to access the scale of the problem and how best to deal with it.

I was Crawley’s representative on this Working Group and I spent much time working on it as I fully recognised the importance of this issue to Crawley residents and businesses. I could have taken the easy option that some Councillors do, by having my picture taken next to a pot hole and trying to gain political capital in the local press, but I was determined to achieve a real solution and was happy to invest my time in doing that.

I was pleased to make the case for major investment to improve the general overall condition of our road network that will reduce the need for future potholes repairs. This is all on top of the existing maintenance budget. The list of Crawley roads being treated is far too long to list here but I will list five major Crawley roads that are to be resurfaced or surfaced-dressed during this summer and autumn.

·       Southgate Avenue

·       London Road (northbound)

·       Buckswood Drive

·       Crawley Avenue (eastbound)

·       Ifield Avenue

There have been some deliberately misleading claims made in some quarters claiming that Crawley does not receive as much road funding as other parts of West Sussex. This is simply not true and given our traffic volumes, it is not surprising that Crawley receives more funding per mile of road network than the rest of West Sussex. My colleagues and I will continue to constructively make the case to carry on improving our roads."