Cambridgeshire roads boss can’t say if county will ever be pothole-free but issue getting his 'personal attention'

Potholes will get “personal attention” from the executive officer overseeing highways at Cambridgeshire County Council.

Frank Jordan, the executive director of place and sustainability, said tackling potholes is one of his priorities.

He said the issue was raised in most of the conversations he had since taking on the role.

While he said tackling the potholes is one of his top five priorities, he could not say the roads across the county will ever be free from them.

Mr Jordan was appointed to his role earlier this year; alongside highways and transport, he also oversees work around waste disposal, the county council’s net zero targets, as well as some other regulatory functions.

It comes as Peterborough City Council has been using the JCB Pothole Pro to see it can signal the end for the road menace that has caused issues for many drivers in the city.

What are Jordan’s five top goals?

Mr Jordan said he has highlighted five main areas that are a priority for him, which include potholes; delivering the county council’s net zero and carbon ambitions; ensuring the authority has a plan in place to respond to the government’s planned changes around waste disposal; and working with other authorities to improve transport services.

He said potholes and road maintenance was also an issue elsewhere, but said he recognised the concerns in Cambridgeshire.

‘Personal attention’

Mr Jordan said: “I definitely picked that one up as being a priority and I think it is about making sure customers are at the heart of our thinking there; that they understand that we understand the condition of the highway, why it is happening in terms of why we might be seeing more potholes, but more crucially that we have got a grip on how to improve.

“I have definitely picked up on this as being a key thing that customers will probably want me to give assurance that A, I have heard it, and B, I am going to going to give it some personal attention, in terms of being able to give that confidence that what we doing going forward around highways is going to be customer focused and demonstrate that we are going to improve the quality of our service.”

What is the hold up on fixing the problem?

Mr Jordan said he also would work with others in local government to highlight the wider issue facing roads – and with central government – in the hope for increased funding.

He said there were always questions around whether there could be more funding made available to support roads, but said it was important for authorities to prove they are being “lean, efficient, and effective as possible”.

Mr Jordan said he recognised that Cambridgeshire did face particular issues with its roads, including with roads in the Fens, and said he believed there is a case that could be made for specific resources from central government to help with these areas.

Will I have to pay more?

He said: “The key thing is that we do obviously make the case for funding where that is possible to be made, but we make the best use of it.

“We have also got to be mindful that if we do ask for more funding around any of our particular services, that technically comes from the council tax payer, so that is another issue that most council taxpayers will say well want to see improved services, but not necessarily by increasing the council tax by a considerable amount.

“It is all about balancing all of the priorities we have at the moment. Where it is appropriate we will lobby central government for additional resources when we think that case can be made.”

Net zero targets

One of the other areas Mr Jordan said he was also looking to focus on were around helping the county council to meet its climate change targets.

The county council has set out an aim to be carbon neutral by 2030, and is aiming for Cambridgeshire to be carbon neutral by 2045.

Mr Jordan said he did think these targets were achievable, and that he wanted to help the authority show how it is “making good progress already”.

He said: “We have got significant ambitions around being a net zero council, so what that means is that we reduce the amount of carbon that we emit as much as possible and then we put other interventions in place to offset that through things like land management.

“But we also want to lead the way for the overall council, because it has got a very strong ambition to be net zero as a county by 2045.

“I think the 2045 target is probably more challenging. We want to demonstrate we are leading the way by achieving our target, but we can’t do that on our own.

“There is going to need to be considerable work with the county council working with our other public sector partners, with businesses, and with people who live in the county, to work with us on how we can actually work collectively on reducing carbon and achieve our net zero ambitions.

“We will do as much as we can as a county council, but we need everyone to get behind what we are trying to achieve.”