POTHOLES is a hot topic for the Ballarat Residents and Ratepayers Association and members of the group are encouraging the community to display a \u2018fix our roads\u2019 bumper sticker as a call for change.<\/p>\n
The free stickers are currently available at the Bunch of Grapes Hotel and other locations thoughtout the city that are listed on the Ballarat Residents and Ratepayers Association\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n
Group president Bruce Crawford said it\u2019s time the City of Ballarat got back to basics and focused on roads as the number one priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we know there\u2019s more to council\u2019s work than rates, roads and rubbish we tend to go back to basics because we feel like they\u2019ve gone too far into other areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get an enormous amount of feedback from the community about roads and plenty of people have been willing to put the stickers on their car.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, compared to this time last year, there are currently less outstanding road maintenance requests in the City, with 378 jobs listed on Monday 13 November compared to 800 which were listed at the end of last November 2022.<\/p>\n
On Monday 13 November the City of Ballarat reported that 12 pothole repairs had been completed in the previous seven days, with only two left to action.<\/p>\n
Mayor Cr Des Hudson encouraged the community to use the Snap, Send, Solve smartphone app so City of Ballarat staff could locate and fix potholes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is a real partnership with our residents and we introduced the Snap, Send, Solve app for people\u2019s phone that is easy to use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents can take photos of a pothole, the GPS will automatically recognise where it is and it will be sent off to council and logged.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all drive past a pothole and think someone else will make a report because we all have busy lives but if people want to be part of the solution it\u2019s important to know where those potholes are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Crawford said while reporting the potholes is part of the solution, there are also issues with how the potholes are currently being repaired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been putting potholes through the app as members of the public to see how the City interacts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the potholes that we picked on about a month later was showing signs of deterioration again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following his recent re-election as mayor, Cr Hudson said the City\u2019s roads are an issue at the forefront of councillors\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the mayor\u2019s agenda, the mayor\u2019s job is to sell the decisions councillors make and certainly roads have been something that we\u2019ve all felt the pressure form from our residents who have asked us to do more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have increased our spending by more than $11 million from the previous year\u2019s budget which went into our roads program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POTHOLES is a hot topic for the Ballarat Residents and Ratepayers Association and members of the group are encouraging the community to display a \u2018fix our roads\u2019 bumper sticker as a call for change. The free stickers are currently available at the Bunch of Grapes Hotel and other locations thoughtout the city that are listed […]<\/p>\n