LETTER: We all know the roads are rubbish

Well I suppose it depends what you mean by national standard, doesn’t it? I am sure that the roads are much worse now than they were a few years back.

Do you remember the halcyon days when a pothole was a rare sight!

Now they are as common as West Sussex county councillors claiming twice for their parking expenses (or even claiming once where no parking charge was incurred at all!).

So how does councillor Montyn know such a fact? Could it be that he has been so advised by the very same contractor to whom the pothole repairs have been outsourced? Surely not!

As WSCC moves towards its new strategy of being a Commissioning Authority (this is the latest spin word for more outsourcing) of even more services, will we get more such ridiculous claims when everyone can see that the outsourced services have actually got worse?

Consider the ‘conundrum’ of two potholes just one metre apart. The in-house workman, although called out just for the first pothole, treats both as one job to avoid having to come back in a few days time.

However the outsourced contractor is incentivised by the number of tickets that are raised and completed, so the second pothole must await another separate and expensive visit; after all WSCC (i.e. us!) will pay.

Completely bonkers and exactly what you get when work outsourced to contractors is not properly managed.

Councillor Montyn, we know the roads are rubbish, so don’t insult us and say otherwise, just get out of your office and take a look at them. Who knows if you persist with such outRaegeous (sic) statements you might further upset ‘Jim’ who has already said he has matches and a stake at the ready!

PAUL KORNYCKY

Cox Green, Rudgwick