A long and wet winter has created more roading potholes than usual and people are doing a great job of letting Council know about the road conditions.

Wairoa District Council Chief Executive Kitea Tipuna said while potholes have been a real bug bear this winter, it is great to see the community working with Council and reporting when they see a pothole that needs fixing.

From August 2021 to August 2022, Council received a total of 153 Customer Service Requests (CSR) to fix potholes, 66 of these were in the Wairoa township and 87 on rural roads.

“We know the long-wet winter, which began with high rainfalls in the end of March weather events, has taken its toll on the district’s roads and that is evidenced by 105 Customer Service requests lodged up until August for this calendar year, compared with only 27 for a similar period last year.”

During the high rainfall back-to-back weather events that occurred in March/April, Council received 26 pothole CSR’s, 12 for rural roads and 14 in the township.

“This winter has seen a lot of rain which has saturated soils and pavements, and surface water has added to conditions which are contributing to a high number of potholes. The issue is district wide with Council trying to stay on top of potholes across its 320km of sealed road.

“A wet winter has contributed to the higher than usual presence of potholes. We are trying to get these repaired as quickly as possible, and as we move into spring, and warmer drier weather, we will be able to make more progress.”

“We are tackling the pothole problem and appreciate people letting us know which enables us to work in partnership with our community.”

Mr Tipuna thanked those people who have taken the time to lodge Customer Service Requests. “We really do appreciate your input, as while we utilise staff and contractors, we also rely on locals to give us a heads up if something needs attending to.”

Completing a Council Customer Service Request is the best method to remedy a situation. It provides location, a paper trail, messaging is clear and from within Council’s system it can be sent to the relevant department/contractor to sort with required response times built in.

Council’s system is set up so that within hours of a CSR being lodged the situation will be investigated and if possible remedied as soon as practicable.

“We can’t attend to a location unless we know about it, and I encourage people to use the CSR programme which ensures there is a written paper trail of the public’s communication with the Council.”

To lodge a CSR, go to Council’s webpage, www.wairoadc.govt.nz , keyword search CSR, and enter the required details. It really is a simple but effective way to communicate with the Council.

Alternatively, if you can’t access the Council webpage, ring the Council office on 838 7309. For non-emergency work it is best to call during usual working hours but if it is an emergency that same number operates 24/7.

“If we know about an issue, we can get it sorted. It’s just a couple of clicks to bring an issue to our attention https://www.wairoadc.govt.nz/contact-us/customer-service-request

“Thank you also everyone for your patience. We all want these potholes fixed and are working to achieve this.

2 September 2022

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