18/11/03 - Local Committee hear about new system to deal with highways issues

At a recent meeting of Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for Copeland, Members received a presentation to informed them about the new and improved ‘Cumbria Highways’ hotline.  Cumbria Highways will simplify the procedure for the public when they raise all their queries and concerns about highways matters.

The new system will provide the public with a single point of contact for all highways issues - from potholes to gritting - from yellow lines to flooding.  Once an incident has been reported, the new system tracks the complaint allowing the Hotline to provide up to date information about the issue. 

County Councillor Ronnie Calvin, Chair of Copeland Local Committee says 

“I am very pleased that a new system is in place to make it easier for the public when reporting highways issues.  Because members of the public are often the first to know about highways problems a system needs to be in place to make sure issues are dealt with effectively, quickly and members of the public can be kept informed.”

Anyone ringing the Hotline number (0845 6096609) during the normal working day will be answered by trained staff who will take details of the caller’s name, address and other details and provide them with a log number and answer queries if possible, or alternatively take details of any highways defect and pass it to the appropriate staff to deal with. The large amount of information held in the Hotline’s computer system will enable the Hotline operator to answer frequently asked questions without the need to seek further advice or information from a specialist. Queries are logged from the moment they are reported to the point where they are finally dealt with. Callers can ring the hotline to get updated information on their query.  Highways response teams will be called out to deal with urgent and dangerous highways defects, but other less urgent issues will be sent to the appropriate person for attention.