Derbyshire Times news bulletin 11th September

Derbyshire Times news bulletin with editor Phil Bramley

Transcript

00:00 Here's today's Derbyshire Times video bulletin.

00:02 Council chiefs have hit back at claims that Derbyshire is the 'Pothole County of the UK'

00:08 as it targets repairs with multi-million pound funding.

00:10 A report for Max Trucks Rental dubbed Derbyshire the worst county for potholes in the UK last year,

00:16 claiming that the county had over 90,000 potholes during that time.

00:19 It also said there were significant differences between Derbyshire and the second-ranked worst

00:25 area Lancashire which had 67,000 potholes and in third place Northumberland which had 51,000 potholes.

00:31 Councillor Charlotte Cupid, Derbyshire County Council member for highways,

00:35 pointed out that our county has a diverse geography and a huge network of roads

00:40 with 3,500 miles of highway, almost 3,000 miles of footpath and over 1,000 highway bridges.

00:46 County Council leader Barry Lewis also argued that the council's recording system for potholes

00:52 includes minor roads in Derbyshire unlike other local authority records and so produces unfair

00:57 comparisons. An independent survey in March this year claimed Derbyshire County Council was the

01:03 fourth worst local area in the UK for pothole repairs with allegedly 71% of its roads in need

01:08 of repairs at that time. But in May this year the council confirmed it had fixed as many as

01:13 42,000 potholes between January and May 2023 and a national survey revealed the local authority has

01:19 recently fixed more potholes than any other highways authority in the whole country.

01:23 A Derbyshire football referee who turns 80 years old tomorrow says he still loves what he does and

01:30 it keeps his mind and body going. Kevin O'Neill started refereeing in the late 60s and 60 years

01:36 on and a new heart valve later he is still going strong. In his years Kevin has been the watchful

01:42 eye over thousands of matches and is now seeing the grandchildren of the first players to come

01:46 to the ranks. He said "I'm able to referee a match you better believe that I will be there to come

01:51 rain or shine. It gives me a real sense of purpose, a passion and I love being part of

01:56 the football community." We wish Kevin a very happy birthday for tomorrow.