Man claims ‘pothole diorama’ campaign helped record number of holes get fixed

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A resident who gained national attention by putting rubber ducks in potholes to highlight the state of roads said his tactics have helped get a “record number” of defects fixed.

Tim Webb, 66, began arranging rubber ducks and toy diggers in his “pothole dioramas” across the Orpington area where he lives at the start of the year.

He said he began his campaign in an effort to highlight the scale of the issue to Bromley council by posting pictures of the scenes on FixMyStreet and Facebook groups.

Mr Webb said: “I think the council initially didn’t know quite what to make of what I was doing. There were an awful lot of road defects, including potholes, and I initially wanted to draw attention to the problem and get some action taken.

“It is interesting when you run a campaign because you’re never quite sure how it’s going to take off, what’s going to evolve, and I never expected to end up on live TV or live radio. I’ve got a feature coming up on a calendar as well of the 12 most unusual people in the world.”

Bromley council announced in May that a second contractor had been appointed on a temporary basis to repair the borough’s potholes.

It also said the typical number of potholes needed to be repaired each month was 900, but that the harsh weather seen the previous winter had increased the figure to 1,500 jobs per month.

Conservative councillor for Bromley council, Nicholas Bennett, said: “There continue to be industry-wide shortages of staff to carry out this important work and there are a number of factors which mean this an issue which is complex to completely resolve, which is why we are taking the action we have.

“While we did take the decision to resurface Westmoreland Road, it is noteworthy that funding from TfL has reduced since 2018 for our principal road network, where previously funding would have been available for such projects.”

Mr Webb said he felt his “polite but consistent” campaign may have helped contribute to the speed at which the additional contractors were enlisted.

He said he was “delighted” to see the council has focused and sped up the process of filling the borough’s potholes since he started posting the pictures online.

The resident: “I think maybe I helped to bring it forward or flag it up for attention, and that’s the thing that I’m most proud of because when I drive around, I know it sounds a little bit sad, but I get quite chuffed when I see that it’s been fixed.”

Mr Webb said that despite the council making a greater effort to manage the backlog of potholes in the borough, areas that see multiple defects in one stretch still remain an issue.

The junction between Cray Avenue, Kent Road and Poverest Road currently has 10 separate reports on FixMyStreet regarding potholes or related road defects.

Conservative councillor Colin Smith, leader of Bromley council, was asked at a council meeting on July 17 if he felt the council was providing residents with adequate services and value for money, in light of the additional contractor being enlisted to treat potholes. The leader said at the meeting that a record number of potholes had been seen in the borough since last winter.

Bromley council was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.

Pictured top: Mr Webb arranging the props for one of his visual stories (Picture: Joe Coughlan)