It’s 10 years since Devon County Council rolled out its community road warden scheme across the county, and to mark the milestone, councillors have issued a rallying cry for new recruits to come forward.
Volunteer Road Wardens are supported by the County Council to organise and carry out minor work in their local community such as weed clearance, grass cutting, sign cleaning, and small drainage work. They can also request training to carry out small pothole repairs using a simple-to-use pothole repair material paid for by Devon County Council.
Around 140 towns and parishes across Devon are currently part of the scheme, and Councillor Louise Wainwright, County Councillor for Salcombe, is leading the charge in calling for more to sign up.
She said: “When it comes to community spirit, Devon is second to none, and I’m hoping people can harness that to add to the number of Road Wardens across the county. There are huge benefits to the Road Warden scheme and its real value is in early intervention – a stitch in time, if you like. If road wardens can repair small potholes in their local roads, it can go a long way to preventing or at least delaying them from deteriorating further and becoming safety defects which the County Council repairs. Our 8,000-mile road network is the biggest of any authority in the country, and the work of our volunteer Road Wardens complements our highway maintenance service by enabling communities to deliver their priority maintenance in their community.”
All Road Wardens receive free Chapter 8 training from the County Council, which teaches them how to create a safe environment for highway work. Devon County Council also provides Road Wardens with third party liability cover for properly completed volunteer work as well as covering the cost of the pothole repair material.
Councillor Dan Thomas, Devon County Council Cabinet member for Highways, said: “Our thanks go to all of the volunteer Community Road Wardens from the towns and parishes across Devon that are part of this scheme. They demonstrate a huge amount of commitment and dedication in their local communities. It’s important to note that Road Wardens don’t replace the work of our highways teams. Should a Road Warden choose to carry out a repair, it would be smaller potholes that aren’t at the stage where the County Council would be required to intervene. Our highways teams continue to repair potholes that are classed as safety defects.”
Devon County Council is investing over £44 million of revenue funding into highways maintenance this financial year. There is also more than £100 million of capital investment for preventative and routine maintenance, including £15m of the authority’s own money.
For more information about the road warden scheme please visit https://www.devon.gov.uk/devonhighways/self-help/road-warden-scheme
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