MORNING EDITION: Warning signs installed as Colwick Loop Road is labelled 'Nottinghamshire's most dangerous road'

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⚠️ Warning signs installed due to potholes on ‘Nottinghamshire’s most dangerous road’

Warning signs have been installed on what critics have described as Nottinghamshire’s ‘most dangerous road’ due to the severity of potholes.

However, campaigners have called on the Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council do more after the potholes were reported a week before.

The spotlight has been on the A612 Colwick Loop Road since February 16 after a video – made and shared on Facebook by Conservative Nottinghamshire County Councillor Mike Adams – showed the treacherous conditions of the road in an urgent appeal for the council to fix it.

The junction next to Marks and Spencer’s at Victoria Retail Park, Netherfield, was shown to be in a severely deteriorated state with deep potholes by the set of traffic lights.

The video has more than 40,000 views at the time of writing and since its upload he gave an update letting residents know the county council’s highways director had visited the spot on February 19.

Cllr Adams said he first notified the council’s highways director of the issue on February 15 and asked for a meeting. He was then expecting an update from the council’s highways team on Monday (February 23) but so far “has not heard a thing”.

Instead, two road signs displaying ‘Ramp Ahead’ and ‘Slow’ heading towards Nottingham have been placed just before the damaged spot to warn drivers – Cllr Adams noticed these on February 19 on the highways director’s visit.

Cllr Adams says the junction has “massively deteriorated” in the past eight weeks, claiming drivers have to slow down to five miles per hour to go over it.

He said: “It’s arguably the most dangerous road in Nottinghamshire at the moment.

“It has hundreds of thousands of journeys per year, it connects two of our bridges, it’s a 40 miles per hour zone, it’s in a braking zone.

“If you overshoot the junction there’s cars coming from the right. ABS (anti-lock) brakes stutter as you brake – if you hit a bump while your brakes are doing that you generally don’t stop when you should.

“People are swerving to avoid it, people slamming on their brakes. It all has knock-on effects of cars behind you, never mind the obvious damage to people’s vehicles.”

Cllr Adams said he was “annoyed” at the lack of action to fix the road, saying: “This is a serious problem – all we’ve got is a slow and ramp sign. After a week that’s all we’ve got… why can’t the council just fix it?”

Under the previous Conservative council the policy was for temporary repairs to be completed within 24 hours of notification but then to return within 90 days to complete a resurfacing section.

Cllr Sam Smith (Con), a county councillor who also represents the Trent Valley ward on Gedling Borough Council alongside Cllr Adams, referred to the potholes as “craters” and the road being “the surface of the moon”.

He said: “It’s the worst part of the network in Nottinghamshire that I have to drive over every day. It’s atrocious, it’s a main thoroughfare connecting Gedling to Nottingham and other parts of the county.”

Cllr Smith said he was “shocked, horrified and disgracefully frustrated” when he noticed the two signs on his drive “over the rumble strip” on Tuesday.

He said: “What a disgrace. Is that a joke? This is what Reform’s pothole repairs look like, forget the roads, we’ll just put signs to warn you. Those signs are doing absolutely nothing to save the residents I represent.

“I’ve got a brilliant idea: instead of sending people to put signs out, send the same people to fill the potholes.”

Gedling resident Francis Rodrigues, who is part of the Gedling Village Local History and Preservation Society, said other roads in his area, such as Brooklands Drive and Lorimer Avenue, were becoming “rat runs” due to people avoiding certain roads due to their poor conditions. 

He said: “The worst road for me is Avon Road up to Lambley Lane, there’s a series of ruts and you have to travel over it at three or four miles per hour to avoid damage.

“I’m a keen cyclist… it’s added danger to cyclists as they have to avoid them. If you hit a pothole with a tyre its a lot more bone shaking.”

Mr Rodrigues said he had concerns for people, particularly the elderly, tripping over and sinkholes opening up.

The LDRS contacted Nottinghamshire County Council on Monday (February 23) for updates on pothole fixes to Colwick Loop Road in light of the news its highways director had been to visit the spot.

It was confirmed to the LDRS on Wednesday the council would not be providing comment.

The Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council plans to spend £153m on permanent road repairs over the next three years.

The East Midlands Combined County Authority has given it an extra £46.9 million in funding to fix potholes.

Council leader Mick Barton (Ref), said at least £400 million extra was needed on top of other funding to ensure the roads were in a “serviceable state”.

Lauren Monaghan,
Local Democracy Reporter

🏫 Secretary of State for Education praises Porchester Junior School for exceptional performance standards

Porchester Junior School in Carlton has received a letter of praise from the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, for exceptional performance outcomes placing it among the highest‑achieving schools in the country.

In the letter, Bridget Phillipson, congratulates the school for its 2024/25 results, highlighting in particular the excellent outcomes of pupils in receipt of pupil premium.

Bridget Phillipson said in the letter, “Your school’s performance places it among the very best nationally, and this is a significant achievement.

“This success reflects the dedication of your staff and the hard work of your pupils. It shows what can be achieved when ambition and commitment come together. Thank you for everything you do to give children the best possible opportunities to succeed.”

Mrs Vicki Welsby is Headteacher at Porchester Junior School, which is based on Standhill Road.

She said: “I am immensely proud of our pupils and staff for achieving outcomes that place Porchester Junior School among the very best nationally for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This recognition reflects our commitment to giving every child the best opportunities to grow personally and academically.

“Our staff are truly inspirational, and this success is a testament to their dedication and care each day. It is also a great achievement of the partnership between our children, their families, and the school working together to help every child thrive.

“We are so proud of what our children achieve, and it is amazing to see their efforts, and the support around them, celebrated so strongly.”

💬 OPINION - CLLR ANDREW MEADS: "The Carlton Active project will bring many challenges and should not go ahead in its current form"

Councillor Andrew Meads is an independent councillor representing the Calverton ward on Gedling Borough Council. Here he voices his concerns about the council's latest plans to create a new leisure centre in Carlton...

This must be a very worrying time for bowling club members, and casual players.

To give some personal background, in my day job I’ve worked on around 40 new leisure centres over the last 30 years. That experience has given me many concerns about the Carlton Active project. 

I believe the Carlton Active project should not go ahead in its planned form, it should be on a new site in Carlton or Netherfield, adjacent to the more modern parts of Gedling’s road network, but every time I raise my concerns about lack of parking, inflated income, or massively over ambitious hire fees for the community venue I'm told by that it must go ahead and we've got to trust the consultants.

All the leisure centres I’ve worked on have been consultant led, and over budget and delayed. 

Looking at the latest drawings there’s around 50 less parking spaces than Carlton Forum, but that’s got to be shared with the football club and allow for increases in gym users, swimming users, new traffic for the soft play and the community venue (which in itself would need around 60-80 parking spaces). 

The new building would have to open two hours earlier than the existing Richard Herrod centre to allow users to access the gym from 6am, meaning the traffic around the Foxhill Road area will greatly increase, and from much earlier in the day through too late at night, causing a huge inconvenience and nuisance to all the local residents. 

The newest leisure centre close by, at Bingham, has almost double the parking spaces of the proposed Carlton Active but without the soft play, the community venue, and a smaller gym. Despite this, the car park at Bingham is regularly full through early in a morning, to late at night. 

Then there’s no seating for swimming competitions - just a viewing gallery, so we are spending £30 million on a new leisure centre with an eight-lane pool which won’t allow local, or county-wide galas, or with the parking to cope; to me that seems so short sighted. Other leisure centres (like at Bingham) that cost a lot less have this provision. 

Going to a new larger site would solve all these problems, as well as providing easier transport routes to the leisure centre. When I have raised this, I’ve been told we as a council can’t afford it. The slight additional cost would more than pay for itself in a very short time, never mind over the projected 50-year lifespan of the building.

If the consultants had investigated swimming locally, they would have found the whole county only has one 50M pool, at Harvey Hadden. This lack of provision in the county causes club galas to be held at venues out of the county, at Sheffield for example. If the new leisure was built on a new site in Carlton or Netherfield a 50M pool could be included, which would allow double the number of school sessions, as well as county and regional galas, generating huge additional income, as well as making Carlton Active a regional hub for sports, leisure and health. 

Moving Carlton Active to a new site would leave Richard Herrod standing and I’m sure the staff could be accommodated at the new leisure centre once it was built, avoiding making them all redundant. It would also allow the indoor bowls club to run Richard Herrod themselves. 

But the big question for me is funding. In a few months' time we will find out if the borough will be split in half under LGR, this will mean that expected Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) won’t be able to be used towards this project. 

Regarding the CIL, I’ve raised my concerns that I dont think the CIL report presented to the cabinet last year was done to the council's own scoring methodology. No proof was requested for matched funding on the other projects put forward, the matched funding was there, and this would have dramatically changed the scoring which would have shown Carlton Active coming out fourth and not first. I’ve asked if it is going to be redone, but the answer is that it can’t be because cabinet has approved it now. 

The cabinet have now agreed to progress this project but it seems very premature to agree to spend £1.5million on stage 3 and 4 when the funding is not in place and the outcome of LGR is not known for a few more months. As I’ve said before, the new authority or authorities that take over from Gedling Borough Council may have completely different ideas on leisure provision going forward.

The budget papers for next month allow for the Richard Herrod Centre to stay open until next year, but there’s no separate provision in it, or in the latest report on Carlton Active for the cost of redundancy for all the staff at the Richard Herrod and some at the civic centre. It seems to me that the staff have been forgotten in all this.

The cabinet have agreed to the recommendations of the report but I just wish they would pause until the outcome of LGR is clearer. In the meantime, they could have a look into having the centre at a new site that would provide the room for the necessary parking provision and footprint of the building. 

🌤️ WEATHER UPDATE

Here's what's in store...

A mainly dry start, with some early sunny spells. However, cloud soon thickening, with winds also strengthening with rain and drizzle then moving in. Tonight, rain and drizzle will become widespread through the evening, mostly light but with some heavier bursts possible. Maybe the odd drier spell developing towards dawn. Winds also easing. Mild.

On Friday outbreaks of mostly light rain and drizzle will slowly ease, with drier intervals developing. Staying cloudy for most, but perhaps the odd brighter or sunny spell later.