Roads and pavements

Our team of Highways Inspectors carry out regular inspections of roads and footways for defects and hazards as well as respond to specific issues reported by members of the public.

To ensure that budgets are contained within current allocations, Highway Inspectors objectively assess the severity, nature and location of defects to determine the urgency and necessity of repairs. Defects are only repaired if they are regarded as hazardous or serious. To ensure that consistent standards are adopted throughout the borough, clearly defined categories known as ‘Intervention Levels’ are set. Details of these are set out in the attached Reactive Maintenance Policy (PDF, 56KB).

The council has revised pothole intervention levels for a trial period as part of its efforts to wipe out potholes across the borough (see the Cabinet report for more details).

During the potholes blitz, we will aim to inspect all reported potholes within two working days, and carry out repairs within seven working days of inspection.

Revised intervention levels for carriageway potholes are as follows:

Report a problem

Contact us to report problems with carriageways, footways and street furniture including:

• Potholes (where the surface of a road or footway has eroded and a hollow has formed)
• Street Furniture defects (traffic bollards or sign poles knocked down or broken, sign plates hanging loose, fencing or pedestrian guard railing sticking out into the pavement or road)
• Inspection cover missing or damaged
• Drainage issues on the highway, or if a gully or drain cover is missing
• Spillage on the highway

There are a number of ways to contact us:

Use our report a problem page
Email potholes@haringey.gov.uk
Tel 020 8489 1335
Fax 020 8489 1331

Emergency Office (out of hours)
Tel 020 8348 3148

We require as much of the following information as possible to respond to your report:

• street name and area.
• location on street, ie; is it near a house number or road junction?
• description and detail of the damage.
• your name and a contact number and email address
• date and approximate time of damage
• persons or vehicle registration responsible for damage (if known).
• were the police in attendance?

|Back to top

---

Spillage on the highway

Spillages on the highway can lead to road traffic accidents or, at the very least, expense to the council. If you see a spillage (such as oil, gravel, sand, etc) on the road or dropped cargo, please report this to us as an emergency by using the contact details provided above.

If you have any details of the offender please report this to us as it will help us to recover costs of the clean up.

|Back to top

---

Pavements

Pavements, particularly those constructed of paving slabs, can suffer badly from damage caused by overriding vehicles. If you see that damage is being caused in this way please report the vehicle details to us so that we can recover the full cost of repairs to the pavement.

You can report an offender of pavement slab theft by either using the council's report a problem page or by using the contact details above.

|Back to top

---

How do I report problems on a Private Street?

A private street is a street that has not been adopted by Haringey Council and is therefore not maintained by us. Unadopted streets generally do not meet the standard of adopted streets. The responsibility for private streets lies with the street owners, who are usually the people who live on the street.

See the private streets / road adoption page for more information.

Haringey Council is unable to resolve safety issues on private streets. However, if the problem is thought to be a danger (for example a deep hole in the road suddenly appearing) Haringey Council will arrange to make safe by placing barriers or road closures around the hazard. Permanent remedial work must then be carried out by the owner(s).

|Back to top

---

What will we do?

• We will inspect the problem within two working days and decide how urgently it needs to be fixed.
• If any problems are considered to be dangerous, we will repair them within 24 hours. Emergency hazards will be made safe within two hours.
• We will repair potholes, problems with roads, footways and street furniture within 28 days.
• We will deal with blocked road gullies within three working days of being reported.
• If further work is required to repair a larger section of road or footway this will be added to our planned maintenance schedule.

Some street furniture and property is not the responsibility of Haringey Council. Examples include inspection covers in the pavement or road (for example stop taps, fire hydrants, manholes and valve boxes), walls built for non-highway purposes, cellar covers, British Telecom or cable cabinets.

If Haringey Council is not responsible we will attempt to identify and contact the owner to ask them to repair the hazard within a set timescale. If the owner is unable to meet this timescale then Haringey Council will make the hazard safe and then recover the costs.

|Back to top

---