Even Tony Blackburn OBE is sick of the Potholes in the Borough of Barnet

Did I ever tell you my Tony Blackburn story? No? It's not really very exciting but about 25 years ago, I'd see Tony every Saturday morning and have a chat with him. My daughter was about three years old and he had a child of the same age. We'd both take them to the Wacky Warehouse soft play area (now the Harvester at the Green Man). Us old farts would wait outside whilst the kids played joyously for an hour. As parents do, we'd have a chat about various things. but as we both have a deep love of music, we'd often chat about obscure soul artists from the 1960's. Tony was spinning them on Radio Caroline when my sisters were playing them to me on the radio when I was the same age as our kids. I never dreamed I'd end up sitting with Tony whilst our kids did what kids do in soft play areas.

For Tony, the Wacky warehouse was a handy local resources, as he's a Barnet resident. I never discussed politics with him and he never expressed an interest in the issue. However, no matter how little you are interested in the subject, it can come and bite you on the bum. Last week, Tony posted this on Twitter

This is the pothole on the pavement in Barnet. So dangerous, why doesn’t the Barnet Council fill it in before someone gets badly https://t.co/LtqBzeI4Hx of many potholes !!!! pic.twitter.com/dAUQYy0umd

— Tony Blackburn OBE. (@tonyblackburn) March 17, 2024

This blog has spent over a decade berating both Tory and Labour regimes over their total mismanagement of our roads and the repairs of potholes. Not only are these unsightly, it is only a matter of time before someone, probably a cyclist or motorcyclist is killed by one of these. Then the false economy of not maintaining roads will hit home in both tragic personal ways and financial ones as well as the family will no doubt sue. It is perverse that the government instructs the Police to fine and ban motorists with dangerous cars, but they can allow the road network to be lethal, with no comeback at all. 

The pothole plague of Barnet is nothing new. In 2018, when I was running as a candidate for Barnet Council, I charted some of the Potholes in Mill Hill, as well as detailing some ideas for fixing it. What was shocking was that the situation had got worse, not better since I first blogged about the appalling potholes in the Borough in 2010. 

Hopefully this tweet from such an esteemed character as Tony Blackburn might spark some action at the council. The thing that really annoys me is that this whole sorry situation is the result of some rather stupid false economies. My drummer works for Camden Council and tells me that the roads in Camden, which borders Barnet, are nothing like ours. The reason? Camden Council manage repairs properly. 

Back in 2018, I spoke to a senior executive working for a civil engineering company and asked why Barnet's potholes are so bad. The reason? They stopped inspecting repairs and allowed contractors fixing the holes to 'self certify' repairs. This means that to get paid, they'd snap a picture of the repair and send it to the council, rather than have a civil engineer come out and check it. I asked how to fix the problems. He suggested that Barnet should appoint a borough engineer, responsible for getting such things back on track. Ideally an experienced engineer, who had worked for contractors previously, with experience of the fiddles and short cuts. They would set up a team to ensure value for money with repairs and other civil engineering programmes. Ideally I'd prefer to see an in house team responsible for repairs. I am not a believer that councils get value for money paying contractors, where they have to cover the costs of profits for private firms. Having a team in house and instructing them to do proper, robust repairs in a Borough the size of Barnet would be a far more sensible approach. The outsourcing of everything has simply seen the Brough's roads crumble.Barnet