RSS Press releases

Our Council is working to improve and maintain the quality of roads in Dumfries and Galloway; one of our commitments (agreed June 2012) is to ‘spend at least £50m over the next 5 years on our roads’.  

DGFirst carries out road maintenance operations through a strategic commission from the Planning, Housing and Environment Services Committee.  DG First Roads Service is responsible for the identification, planning, programming, procurement, and delivery of works to deliver the key objectives of the commission.  

In April 2012, our Council agreed changes to the way in which roads repairs were to be done and a review of working practices.  Our aim is to carry out the right repair, at the right time, in the right way.  Whenever possible we carry out first-time permanent repairs, however, safety or other issues can dictate that a temporary repair has to be done.   

The changes required new equipment, techniques, processes, culture shift, and training.  £626,000 was allocated to deliver those changes.  In August 2012, an additional £1m was allocated to roads maintenance. 

Improvements in the delivery of our Council’s roads maintenance service include:

• Audit of roads service data systems to identify opportunities to integrate asset management and roads maintenance systems
• Procuring additional plant and equipment to achieve more first time permanent repairs
• Review of roads inspections and monitoring processes
• Developing workforce guidance on first time permanent repairs
• Developing options for wider use of devices for on-site data capture
• Developing mechanisms to improve info for road users
• Trialling alternative processes to improve quality and efficiency in carrying out road repairs
• Examining ways to reduce carbon emissions from road repair operations

The new repair regime has been successful, with very few permanent repairs having to be replaced.  Performance data indicates that from April 2012 to March 2013, 24,220 road repairs have been carried out.   

From April 2012 to March 2013, our surfacing team has laid 30,000 tonnes of material, which equates to resurfacing 42 miles of road.  

Councillor Patsy Gilroy, chairman of DGFirst Management Committee, said, “It is unfortunate that the recent Audit Scotland report focuses on the negative.  Across Scotland, the percentage of roads in acceptable condition has actually increased since the 2011 report, despite the fact that roads maintenance budgets have been reduced nationally.  We, as a Council, are increasing investment in roads maintenance, compared to this national trend of decreases.  This demonstrates our Conservative-SNP Administration’s commitment to maintain the roads infrastructure across our region for the benefit of local road users, businesses and tourists.    

“We have significantly improved the way that we find and record defects and progress on roads maintenance is regularly reported to the appropriate committees of our Council. Following recent severe winter weather, our Council has accelerated its safety inspection programme, focussing on the areas that were worst affected.  Road users will be aware of the amount of work we’re currently doing on our roads.  Our repair crews are fully resourced and are carrying out work on a priority basis.  Road users can help us by reporting potholes to the Council, by phone on 030 33 33 3000 or through our website www.dumgal.gov.uk”