We ‘ve written a lot about potholes? – because there have been so many of them.? And now we know why.
We hope our local Conservatives are embarrassed by the figures below. They darn well ought to be.
This is a league table of the money spent on pothole repairs by Essex County Council by district or borough over the last three financial years:
Braintree:- ??? ?? ?3,570,000
Colchester:-??? ? ?3,230,000
Uttlesford:-?????? ?3,100,000
Chelmsford:-??? ? 2,710,000
Tendring:-???????? ?2,590,000
Epping:-??? ? ? ? ?? ?2,570,000
Basildon:-? ??????? ?1,910,000
Maldon:-??????????? ?1,890,000
Brentwood:-????? ?1,440,000
Castle Point:-??? ? ? 978,000
Rochford:-??????? ?? ? 920,000
Harlow:- ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 767,000
A127:- ? ? ? ? ???????? ? 605,000
Total ?7.888 million
In the previous three financial years Essex? spent ?7.888 million on pothole repairs.
However earlier this summer? the Conservatives suddenly found ?11 million from nowhere to spend on pothole repairs. They must be worried about the County Council elections next May!
The County Council probably isn’t spending enough money on pothole repair even in places like Braintree and Colchester.? But it seems pretty clear that Rochford has been especially stitched up here.? Look at the comparison with Colchester:
Colchester has 173,000 people? – about twice as many as Rochford.
Colchester has an area of 128 square miles? – about twice the size of Rochford.
Colchester gets about three-and-a-half times more money spent on potholes.
Or to put it another way:? on average, the County Council has only been spending ?3.68 a year on fixing our potholes for every man woman and child living in Rochford District. The same figure for Colchester is ?6.22.
Are there going to be Lib Dem candidates in all of the County Divisions (Wards) for Rochford District in the County Council Elections in May 2013? Speaking to a resident of my Ward it is rumoured that two Divisions will feature new local Conservative Candidates !!
John, not sure I can answer that one publicly.
I don’t think I can mention candidates from our party on our website without getting involved with the rules about election expenses!
However I believe the Conservatives will probably have 3 new candidates out of 5.
We haven’t selected our candidates yet anyway. So if someone fancies standing for us as a Lib Dem, there is still time to contact us…