|
|
 |
| |
Cllr James Murray and George Cato in Copenhagen Street |
‘No one asked us before digging up road 375 times’
Home-owners blame Town Hall for failing to curb disruption
FRUSTRATED residents of a Barnsbury street dug up 375 times in the last five years say their pleas to the council to help minimise disruption have fallen on deaf ears.
The figures, revealed last week by the Town Hall, mean that utilities and telecommunications companies have been digging up Copenhagen Street an average of six times a month.
Emergency services have also been affected by the continual roadworks.
A police spokesman said: “It doesn’t help response times when there are roadworks because the other roads get congested. The fact that there are speed bumps all over the borough doesn’t help either.”
Islington Council has said it cannot give information on how many times Copenhagen Street had been dug up in the last 10 years because the data file is too big.
George Cato, who has lived in Copenhagen Street for 35 years, said: “We have never been consulted. The council think they know what’s best for us, but no one there has any local knowledge.”
Neighbour Martin Murray, who lives in Barnsbury Road, agreed that the road had been dug up “umpteen times, at a phenomenal cost”, but believed the same could be said for almost any Islington street.
Barnsbury Labour councillor James Murray said the Copenhagen Street saga reflected the “out-of-touch attitude” of the council.
For years residents had been asking for the road to be resurfaced, he added.
“But rather than repair it they just dig it up again,” Cllr Murray said. “The council has an important role to play in co-ordinating the utilities. They should be minimising the disruption. It is painfully clear they don’t have a clue what’s going on.”
A council spokeswoman said: “The inconvenience caused when utilities dig up the roads to do repairs or install new services will reduce next year when new laws give councils more control.
“At the moment utilities have a legal right to dig up roads at anytime without our permission to install new services or carry out repairs.”
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
