THE waiting list of road repairs in Derby has risen by half in the past year – despite a £25m contract to try to tackle the problem.

Before the deal was signed, the backlog of road and path repairs was 3,000 under previous contractor Morrison Highway Maintenance.

Now that figure has risen to 4,500 under the new partnership with Carillion, branded Derbyroads.

The city council said Carillion had been working to retrain the workforce and bring in new ways to speed up repairs but admitted the backlog of maintenance was worse now than a year ago.

One resident who reported problems in Tilbury Place said: “Council staff have come out three times to look at the potholes. They’ve sprayed paint on them but haven’t fixed them.”

John Hansed, head of roads at the council, said the changes had taken longer than hoped to take effect.

And Lucy Care, city cabinet member for planning and transportation, said the backlog of repairs would need £2m to tackle – money the authority has not got.

Mark Wallace, campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This is yet another example of the council failing to deliver the most basic of public services, despite sky-high council tax.

“Taxpayers will foot the bill for this massive backlog and they deserve to know why the problem wasn’t fixed long ago.”

AT the age of 97, Edith Northedge takes a philosophical view of most subjects.

But one thing that gets her hot under the collar is the state of the roads.

The householder, of Tilbury Place, Derby, says she has been trying for months to get something done about the potholes outside her home, which can be a danger for people not as light on their feet as they used to be.

"The potholes are dangerous because when it rains they fill up with water and, if you are getting out of a car or taxi, you don't know how deep they are."

The city council admits it is concerned about how quickly road surface problems in the city are being tackled.

A year ago, it switched the roads maintenance contract to a new firm in a bid to tackle a backlog of 3,000 repairs – but that backlog has now grown to 4,500.

Mrs Northedge said: "If the backlog of repairs is getting bigger, it shows that what we are suffering is happening across the city and repairs aren't being done."

The council signed a five-year deal with construction company Alfred McAlpine, which has since been taken over by Carillion. This replaced a contract with Morrison Highway Maintenance Ltd, which expired in August last year.

The council said at the time that it had concerns about Morrison's performance and its focus on cutting costs irrespective of performance and client satisfaction.

It hailed the new deal with Carillion, branded Derbyroads, as the start of quicker responses to residents' reports of potholes and other road maintenance problems.

Three-quarters of these are repairs that have not been dealt with in the council's three-month target period.

When Carillion signed the contract, it took over the existing workforce of about 30.

John Hansed, head of roads at the council, said the changes had taken longer to take effect than the authority hoped.

"Carillion have been developing the workforce and making changes to the gangs and the way they operate," he said.

"It has taken them a while to get the workforce retrained and to deal with problems of sickness and an ageing workforce.

"We wish that might have been done more quickly but, as a result, the backlog of less urgent work has grown."

Mr Hansed said urgent repairs – those needed to remove danger – were carried out within an hour. During the past year, there were 1,817 of these.

A trial to test one possible change started two weeks ago.

Roadworking gangs are usually made up of two men, but Derbyroads is now trialling four-men gangs and new machinery.

Mr Hansed said the trial was in its early stages but already looked likely to be a success. If so, the new-style working would be rolled out across the operation.

"We started the trial two weeks ago, but early results suggest that the new way of working has given an increase in the speed of getting repairs done by over 20%. As yet, though, we are unable to establish the change in costs relative to the old methods."

Savings are certainly needed as the budget for repairs to Derby's 700km of roads is £3.3m.

Councillor Lucy Care, cabinet member for planning and transportation, said she would be keeping a close eye on the maintenance contract and pushing for the changes to be made quickly to increase workers' productivity.

She said rising inflation, which had affected the construction industry more than many others, meant a huge increase in spending was needed to sort out the city's roads.

"To deal with the current pressure on the budget and to bring us back to doing a similar level of work as a few years ago, before cuts and inflation eroded the budget, an extra £1m to £2m a year would be useful," she said.

"To start making real improvements to the roads and pavements in Derby, we'd be talking more."

But she added that roads would have to be balanced against other departments, such as schools and adult social services, when it came to drafting next year's budget.

Councils across the country are assessing their roads and analysing the cost of repairs and replacements as part of a Department for Transport survey.

The results could be used to lobby the Government for more cash.

Early results in Derby have shown that to replace the city's roads would cost £750m.

Mrs Care said: "We often quote the value of buildings and schools – but that figure shows just what an important asset our road system is."

Where's the worst pothole in your area? E-mail newsdesk@ derbytelegraph.co.uk.