THE contractor responsible for faulty surface work on five major roads across Cheshire East will stump up repair costs and insurance claims for chipped windscreens where these are validated, a councillor said.
Cheshire East released a statement last month to say the roads affected are the A34 Maclean Way/Birrell Way in Wilmslow, the A500 Shavington Bypass, the A49 Whitchurch Road, the A54 Buxton Road, and the A533 London Road/Middlewich Road in Sandbach.
At last week’s meeting of full council, Wilmslow councillor Lata Anderson (Ind) asked: “Can the council confirm when that resurfacing will be and what the path should be for anyone who suffered a damaged windscreen due to loose stones on Maclean Way?”
Shavington councillor Linda Buchanan (Lab) said she had received several complaints about the ‘woeful state’ of the A500.
“The road surface is literally peeling away, and as cars drive along stones are flying up and damaging windscreens,” she said.
Cllr Buchanan said she had been assured the contractor would be footing the bill for the road repair but also wanted reassurance the contractor, and not the council, would be covering any legal and reimbursement costs for damaged windscreens.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith (Wilmslow, Ind) , who chairs the highways and transport committee told Cllr Anderson: “Details of how people can make claims are on the website at Cheshire East.
"They are handled by a claims company that will look at them independently of the council.
“We have a duty to ensure that we only pay out the claims that we legally have to, and I'm sure they will look at that as well.”
In response to Cllr Buchanan’s question, Cllr Goldsmith said: “I’m happy to confirm that the contractor has said that they will pick up those costs.
"We're not paying for any of this.”
He said over the past few years, the council had laid more than 600,000 square metres of this treatment without any issues, and it is common for all councils to use it.
Cllr Goldsmith said the repair work would begin in April or May when the weather was better.
He told the meeting: “Last year, Cheshire East installed 231,000 square metres of this coating, and just under 26,000 square metres has failed, that’s about 11 per cent.
“At the contractor’s cost, an independent expert has been commissioned to see what went wrong, and the initial findings indicate the bitumen coating delivered to the site was faulty.
“This work is guaranteed though, and having an integrated supplier means there is only one company responsible.
“They are treating it very seriously, though, and are paying for all costs associated with the issue and its repair."
He added: “If anybody has a stone chipping that they think could be caused by this, then they need to get in touch with the claims company on our website, who will deal with them on a case-by-case basis.
“But any amounts that are paid out will not come from the Cheshire East, they will come from the contractor.”
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