1. Please provide a copy of the criteria where a pothole meets the need for action
This information is already publicly available on Highway Safety Policy vers 6.1 effective 1st January 2021 – Roads and transport (devon.gov.uk) webpage.
2. A copy of how staff inspect the report and determine if it meets the criteria. Please supply specific details of exactly how they do this including use of any measuring equipment.
This information is already publicly available on Highway Safety Policy vers 6.1 effective 1st January 2021 – Roads and transport (devon.gov.uk) webpage. Inspectors carry calibrated measuring equipment such as steel rulers and metal ‘jigs’ to determine if sizes meet investigatory criteria.
3. How do contractors confirm the pothole has been filled?
Repair gangs use mobile devices and record outcomes of site attendance on our contractors works management system – this integrates directly with our own works management system, enabling us to view completion dates, times, comments etc.
4. How does the Devon County Council (DCC) quality assure the work contractors complete? Please include specific details of any equipment used.
There is a system of audit in place which sees DCC undertake frequent, randomised sampling of completed defect repairs. Our policies and specifications set out that pothole defects must be repaired to nationally recognised standards, using Highway Authorities Product Approval Scheme approved materials. Where repairs have been undertaken that are not to mutually agreed benchmarks remedial works instructions are raised, which require our contractor, Milestone Infrastructure, to return to site and re-do the repair to the required specification, at no extra cost to the authority. In addition, we will also follow up on reports in relation to poor quality from other officers and also members of the public. Our contractor also have an established system of quality audit in place.