Wanted – workmen for hole in Salisbury Road – UPDATE

This morning, whilst drivers in Marlborough sat in their cars, waiting for the cars in front to move, and those way in front of them to get a ‘green’ at the three-way lights controlling the flow of traffic around the big hole in Salisbury Road that is due to be there for the rest of the month, there was something missing – workmen……

Not going to suggest that there are a series of job vacancies for hole diggers and pipe technicians, but surely, shouldn’t such a disruptive work such as this, which makes the town grind to a halt (solid queues from The Common at the top of Herd St to the top of Postern Hill in the Forest) be addressed with priority? Who is managing this? The contractors, the client (Wales & West Utilities Ltd), Wiltshire Council? Responsibility will fall between the contractors carrying out the works and Wales & West Utilities Ltd, and – under normal circumstances – each will blame the other.

‘Blame’ isn’t what matters here. It’s disruption, to our lives. The contractors and client – Wales & West Utilities Ltd – have a responsibility to us, but it would appear that they are ignoring that. This needs to be sorted out.

What can we do? Nothing, except shout. And shout loudly, loud enough to deafen Wiltshire Council, who should then apply pressure on to Wales & West Utilities Ltd, who should then apply pressure on their contractors to be working at all times, not just leaving an empty site on a Monday daytime. THIS IS NOT ON…..

UPDATE: At tonight’s (Monday 4 August) meeting of the Town Council Planning Committee it was reported that the work on this site stopped on Thursday afternoon last week. At exactly what time we don’t know but we understand, early afternoon. Nothing happened – no work was being done – on Friday, over the weekend, and apparently workers were only back on site at some point this afternoon.

The contract for this job stipulates that – because of what the job is, where, and the amount of disruption it causes – it’s a six day per week job (Monday – Saturday), with long days (07:00 to 18:00) on every one of those six days every week. So – if the reports are correct, in this last week, rather than six days work being done, three days have been missed so it’s a ‘half contract’ job.

Apparently, also reported was that one of the workmen told a member of the Marlborough community that the workers ‘lived a long way away – up North’ so they needed to be away early to get home for the weekend. If so what are Wales & West Utilities doing employing a contractor based so far away with all the accompanying distance / time issues? This is all what has been reported, we can’t confirm that this is true (Wales & West Utilities, Lt have sent a statement – below:) but the times that work has been done is fairly obvious, and it doesn’t appear to be anything like the contracted times.

We are all paying for this disruption.

If this is what is being allowed and the reports are correct, either Wales & West Utilities could ensure that the entire job is done in half the specified time, or, and this is the unsavoury bit, they might take twice as long to complete the job. It is for Wiltshire Council to take Wales & West Utilities to task: ascertain exactly what days / hours have been worked, how that relates to what has been stipulated and apply the necessary actions. We are all their customers, we pay the Council, they should be acting on our behalf.

Wales & West Utilities Programme Controller, Craig Spearing said:

“We are working in the Malborough Road area of Salisbury to upgrade the gas network. This work is essential to keep the gas flowing safely to heat and power local homes and businesses and to make sure the gas network is ready to transport greener gas in the future.

“We began working last week (28 July); however, unfortunately, a mechanical fault with our excavator meant that our work had to be delayed while we acquired the parts needed to continue working. As there was already an open excavation, to keep road users safe, our traffic management needed to remain in place.

“We’ve worked closely with Wiltshire Council to plan the best time to carry out these works, and agreed with them on the safest traffic management system to keep our colleagues, the public and other road users safe. Three-way traffic lights are in place throughout the project and are manually controlled between 7am – 7pm to try and minimise disruption for motorists.

“We have spoken again with our colleagues and with the local highways authority to try and address the concerns around disruption. Our team are working as safely and as quickly as they can and are doing their best to keep traffic flowing as much as possible. Despite the delay, we still expect to complete our work on schedule and reopen the road by the end of August.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience our work is causing; we do appreciate the frustration that comes with working on busy roads such as these and thank the community for their patience while we get the job done. This upgrade work really is essential to keep the gas flowing safely, preventing potential gas leaks or interruption to local supply, meaning we are less likely to have to work in the area again.

“Our Customer Service Team is ready to answer any questions people might have about our work. You can contact them on freephone 0800 912 2999 or enquiries@wwwutilities.co.uk. Alternatively, you can contact us on X (formerly) Twitter @WWUtilities or Facebook.com/WWUtilities.”