Top Councillor Claims Residents Are ‘Not Getting the Truth’ About Potholes

Dudley: There’s been some heated talk about potholes lately. The council’s highways chief, Cllr Damian Corfield, says folks aren’t getting the full story. This all went down during a meeting on January 22, where they were discussing the highways budget.

Cllr Corfield faced tough questions from other councillors about road repairs. Cllr Parmjit Sahota pointed out that the roads in poorer areas are in bad shape. He warned that cuts to maintenance would hit those communities hard.

Sahota mentioned that busier roads get more funding, creating a two-tier system. He wanted assurances that neglected areas wouldn’t be forgotten. Cllr Corfield responded, saying the council is shifting to planned repairs instead of just reacting to problems. He believes this will help roads last longer.

He argued that they’re in the middle of a five-year plan to improve things. But Cllr Shaukat Ali from Labour disagreed, saying the roads in local areas are still full of potholes. Corfield pointed out the council is facing a £42 million shortfall next year, which complicates things.

He felt the meeting was one-sided and asked for a fair chance to explain. Corfield insisted that residents aren’t getting the complete picture about the situation. It’s clear there’s a lot of frustration on both sides about the state of the roads in Dudley.