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Children and Young Peoples Services

Services for Adults on the Isle of Wight

Highways Maintenance


Service Description: Road repairs are undertaken to extend the residual life of the network and improve riding quality. There are 492 miles of roads, together with pavements (footways) and paved pedestrian areas on the Island that we try to ensure are properly maintained and safe to use. These include defect inspections by resident inspectors at set intervals, as well as mechanised surveys that help to establish structural and surface condition of the roads. Every year a programme is drawn up of major repairs based on the views of County, Town and Parish Councillors, along with community views and reports from Highway Inspectors. Priority is give to those roads that are in urgent need of repair, and have the most use. The Isle of Wight Council is responsible for protecting the public from dangers caused by the misuse and abuse of the highway; these can be obstructions on the highway such as overhanging trees, overgrown hedges and unauthorised skips and scaffolding.

Also known as:- Carriageway and Footway Maintenance, Carriageway Reconstruction, Cats Eyes, Charity Permits, Damaged Road Signs, Defects, Faulty Streetlights, Highways Defect, Obstructions, Ragwort (On Highways Verges), Re-Kerbing, Re-surfacing, Repainting Lines, Roadside Ditches, Sandbags, Wasps-Public Land (Defect)

Your FAQ

Question: What is the council's policy towards gully cleansing?

Answer: The Highway maintenance section sets out a cleaning order for each gully on the Island. There are approx 1600 gullies which are cleaned once year, with 20 chosen sites of Catch Pitts and Gullies having to be cleaned monthly. This leaves around 62 currently remaining gullies on a BI-Annual (6 monthly) cleansing cycle.

Due to constant new development on the Island, the addition of extra gullies, Annually, Monthly, or Bi-Annually cleaning, can be an ongoing process. Changes can sometimes occur in cleaning order rotates for Streets/Roads, especially new developments.


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