Jack Rose became the authority鈥檚 sole Green Party member after being elected to serve the Stafford West and Rural division at May鈥檚 election 鈥 and he presented his motion raising concerns about the state of the county鈥檚 roads at his first full council meeting.
He said: 鈥淭he state of our county highways is now at breaking point 鈥 road users risk damage to their vehicles and injury to themselves travelling on our roads and it is unacceptable. It is time now for us all to hold Highways and their contractor Amey to account and demand that proactive action is taken.鈥
Councillor Rose urged fellow members to formally declare that Staffordshire faces a roads emergency and asked for a debate on the state of the county鈥檚 highways, providing a 鈥渃lear plan of action to tackle the issue, in a cost-effective and logical manner鈥.
He also called for the county council to establish joint committees with each district and borough authority to discuss road maintenance and improvements, as well as requesting the council leader and chief executive to write to the Secretary of State for Transport, calling on central government to provide an additional one-off lump sum to enable councils to provide a start on clearing the backlog of repairs.
Labour member Syed Hussain, who congratulated Councillor Rose on his motion, said potholes were “probably” the most-discussed issue on the doorstep during the election period. He added: 鈥淚t is clear that action is needed now.
鈥淲hile we have challenges, we have also had significant achievements. Since I was elected, in my [Burton] constituency of Anglesey and Stapenhill, we have resurfaced over 70 roads and that鈥檚 no small feat.
鈥淎s much as we have achieved, there is still work to do. We must use funds wisely and the Government is clear they will hold back 25 per cent of uplift until we show results.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up to us to ensure funds make a real difference. Let鈥檚 fix the roads and keep working together to improve our roads, support local businesses and make life better for all who live in Staffordshire or travel to Staffordshire.鈥
The motion failed to gain enough support from other councillors however. Fellow Stafford representative, Conservative councillor Ann Edgeller, was one of the members who spoke against it.
She said: 鈥淗ighways and potholes are a county issue, not a borough problem. As you are a Stafford Borough councillor, and I am also, I don鈥檛 believe in the borough delving into county remit.
鈥淟eave well alone and let the county get on with doing the job 鈥 that is why I cannot support this motion. In Stafford alone we have spent 拢1.5m on the A34 Stone Road, Stafford Western Access Route 拢65m, Levelling Up fund for the A34 拢8m, not to mention the Stafford Gateway.鈥
Fellow Conservative Councillor Philip White, now the authority鈥檚 opposition group leader, said: 鈥淭his is one of our big challenges as a country, the condition of our roads. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 anybody who travels on the roads who would not say the roads in this country need sorting out.
鈥淲e are seeing the effects of many years of underinvestment in our roads under both Labour and Conservative governments. We have called for many years as Conservatives for proper funding for our highways 鈥 it鈥檚 the universal service all of our residents use and we need that problem resolved.
鈥淲e support the sentiment of this motion. But unfortunately we can鈥檛 support the detail in it 鈥 the proposals in the motion, if they were enacted, would make the situation worse, not better.鈥
Reform UK is now in charge of the council after the party won 49 out of 62 seats in the May elections. The previous Conservative majority on the authority was cut to just 10 members.
Newly elected council leader Ian Cooper said at the full meeting: 鈥淲e have looked at what Councillor Rose has said and we share the sentiment as well. The state of the roads across the county, and the UK in general, is pretty shocking.
鈥淲e do support the sentiment. But I鈥檓 afraid we cannot support this motion.鈥
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Rose said: 鈥淪taffordshire鈥檚 roads are full of potholes and it was the number one issue on the doorstep before the election. I proposed a motion to get something done.
鈥淒id my motion seek to tie the council into spending millions it doesn鈥檛 have, or perhaps borrow an unaffordable sum to pay for the repairs? No 鈥 it simply called for council members to have a debate about what could be done, to work with borough councils across the county to prioritise road maintenance and to write to the Government to ask for a one-off lump sum to go towards fixing the potholes.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty sure people who voted Reform wanted them to take action. But now we know, when it comes to fixing potholes, Reform doesn鈥檛 even want to talk about it.鈥