Residents in the stretch of Dunhill Road (the section from Marcus St to Grange Road, where in days gone by the left hand stub continued via a level crossing over the railway to Green Lane and Bridge Street) have received some very welcome news today. The road is to be repaired and resurfaced, guttering and drainage renewed, and kerbing replaced, along with replacement of paving stones with “flexible bituminous material.”
The response from residents to this news is very favourable, with plenty of comments that this should have been done when KCom installed new cables and trashed the pavements and drainage systems which had already been showing signs of wear. Craters have been appearing in the road surface for years.
It’s part of just one street, but the comments already from residents suggest this is the sort of work the public sees as a priority. The state of the road surface must be damaging vehicles. The state of the pavements brings an unnecessarily high risk of pedestrians falling. Sections of the street develop lakes after heavy rain because gutters and drains are blocked. KCom left the pavements looking like a rundown industrial estate rather than a cared for residential area.
The streets around the Victoria Pleasure Grounds are home to families and many of the people who do the work that keep the community going. Nurses, carers, refuse collectors and street cleaners, people who serve in shops and fill the shelves with food and other items; people who work in banks; people who clean our public buildings, people who build, plumb, repair, wire, and make items like furniture and vehicle parts; people who deliver parcels and letters. Not glamorous work, but vital work. When the parts of town that are home to such people, and the older central areas, are neglected, fall into bad repair and look shabby, but other people who benefit from this essential work get to live in pristine streets, and stylish expensive looking buildings are built for the council, it breeds a sense of injustice. It suggests that the “powers that be” locally don’t respect and care about those who do important work but don’t have huge incomes.
Well done to all involved in the work to improve Dunhill Road – to make it safe, properly functioning and look cared for. Let’s hope many more of the town’s neglected and deteriorating streets will get the same treatment soon.
Residents are now devising new games, and revising the rules for hop scotch after the appearance of the multi-coloured street markings….