MADAM - I could well believe we might have a Shard replica but someone has got to be dreaming if they think the potholes are going to be repaired any time soon (Comment, SNJ, April 1.

We all know how long the repairs last now so what makes someone think they will be done any better in the future.

That means that to make any long term improvement most of the roads in Gloucestershire need to be resurfaced and we know that isn’t going to happen.

You tell us that Amey the new name for Gloucestershire Highways was “blasted” during a County Council meeting.

Wow, I bet that frightened them.

The people that should be getting the blasting are those that decided to get rid of all the ‘authority employees and give their jobs to a contractor.

Who wrote the contract?

Who signed the contract?

Who is tasked with policing the contract?

I have no doubt that whoever produced the contract knew only too well that it was impossible to do the necessary work on the roads with the money that was made available.

Anyone who has any experience of contracting out services knows perfectly well that the contractor is in business to make money and a profit for their shareholders.

That is their sole reason for being in business so if councillors want our roads repaired they have to make sure the contract is so watertight Amey has no escape.

In defence of Amey though, our roads have been neglected for years and that is entirely the fault of GCC.

They have chosen to put off maintenance year after year because they wanted us to believe they really could manage without raising council tax.

Now the councillors want a contractor to fix in five minutes what they have neglected to deal with for years.

It might be of interest if I mention that the A46 through Nailsworth was swept twice in 48 hours prior to the Round Britain Cycle race last year but at the same time I reported to Amey that several drains on the same section of road were blocked.

They are still blocked to this day in spite of countless chase up calls to Amey.

Is this the fault of Amey or is it that their contract only requires them to clean drains once every so many years?

Howard Price

Nailsworth