Full marks to Labour County Councillor Keith Bobbin for uncovering a huge cock-up that caused big delays for people using the Pitsea flyover.
HIGHWAY bosses have been forced to admit repairs to stop Pitsea flyover leaking failed because they were following the wrong plans.
Essex County Council has been accused of a cover-up after being forced to reveal the real reason for the botched job.
The admission comes nearly a year after the Echo exposed water was still seeping through the structure, despite two multi-million pound repairs to the crossing.
The authority has finally conceded the blunder, which caused months more misery to motorists, in response to questions from Keith Bobbin, Labour county councillor for Pitsea.
Highways chiefs admitted planning the repairs using an old blueprint for the crossing which differed to how it was eventually built in the early 1970s.
This meant contractors worked on the wrong parts of the bridge and left leaks in other areas. The estimated cost of work to the flyover has now soared to ?14.5million.
More in the Echo here.
Incidentally, Mr Bobbin doesn’t seem to be afraid of treading on anybody’s toes – here’s what he said in the Independent about Tony Blair in May 2006 :
* KEITH BOBBIN, BASILDON
“He should stand down soon. He is only hanging on to pass Margaret Thatcher’s record in power. He should have gone after last year’s election. I think that Tony Blair was a liability to the party and local members are leaving the party.”
If Mr Bobbin truthfully did mention Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in the same paragraph then I am a sad lady indeed. Mrs Thatcher was certainly a liability to the country whereas Mr Blair was both an asset to his party and to the country.