Roads, pavements and traffic management
Herefordshire Council is the Highway Authority for the majority of the county's roads. Amey Herefordshire delivers highway services for Herefordshire Council. This is except for the trunk roads and motorways (A49T, A40T (Ross-on-Wye to Monmouth) and the M50), which are maintained by Amey Herefordshire on behalf of the Highways Agency (external link).We regularly inspect each road and maintain it to at least the standard laid down in our Highway Maintenance Plan. The character of the road and the expected traffic use define the standard. We compile the annual programme of planned highway maintenance (resurfacing and surface-dressing) from highway condition surveys, statistics on road usage, road safety and community concern.
How do I report a problem?
Please contact us on 01432 261800 or email streets@herefordshire.gov.uk to report or enquire about the following. When reporting a problem please provide a description of the fault, its location (street name, road number and any landmarks) and your name and contact details.
- Bridge inspections and repairs
- Dead animal on a highway
- Disabled parking bays
- Drainage issues, such as blocked gullies and blocked ditches
- Drop a kerb outside a property
- Faulty traffic lights
- Flooding queries and the issue of sandbags
- Footpaths
- Fuel/oil spills
- Graffiti (on council property only), litter, fly tipping and fly posting
- Highway obstruction
- Lifebuoys
- Licenses to excavate a road, erect scaffolding or site a skip on a road outside your home or business
- Mirror out of place on highway
- Mud on a highway
- Noxious weeds along the highway, such as Ragwort or Japanese Knotweed
- Overgrown hedges, trees and verges along the highway. (This is usually the responsibility of the landowner, but the council will take action if there is a hazard to highway users).
- Pavement/footway repairs and obstructions
- Potholes and other highway problems
- Raised or missing manhole covers
- Road closures or apply for temporary traffic lights
- Road markings and missing cats eyes
- Road re-surfacing
- Road signs
- Safety barriers and edge markers
- Street and public convenience cleaning
- Winter maintenance, gritting and grit bin refilling
Please note: any work undertaken is dependent on other priorities and budgets available.
How long does it take to fix a problem?
We classify a defect into one of three categories and each category has its own response time. Amey Herefordshire is committed to achieving these standards for highways defect management.
Category 1 defects
Category 1 defects are those that require prompt attention because they represent an immediate or imminent hazard or because there is a risk of short-term structural deterioration.
We will respond to category 1 defects within two hours, make them safe within 24 hours and repair them within 28 days of the initial report.
Category 2 defects
Category 2 defects are those that do not represent an immediate or imminent hazard or a risk of short-term structural deterioration. However, they may represent a safety concern of a far lesser significance than category 1 defects. We consider them under two sub-categories and these determine how they are treated:
Category 2a defects
These defects either represent a greater safety hazard or are likely to deteriorate further before the next scheduled inspection. We will prioritise and repair these defects within 28 days alongside routine maintenance work or as part of a programmed maintenance scheme, and we make them safe until the scheme is undertaken.
We will repair category 2a defects within two months.
Category 2b defects
These defects do not represent a public safety concern and are unlikely to deteriorate further before the next scheduled inspection, and we note them for the next safety/service inspection.
We will repair category 2b defects within three months.
Category 3 defects
These are low risk defects that do not represent a public safety concern.
We will repair or incorporate category 3 defects into known programmes of work within six months.