Concerns have been expressed over the treatment of road work contractors amid an increase in complaints about them.
Lincolnshire County Council says complaints around its Highways has increased this year.
A report was presented to its Highways Scrutiny Committee, as well as a meeting of the Full Council, last week.
The former was chaired by Coun Thomas Sneath who during the discussion referred to a nine per cent increase in complaints and whether it was linked to ‘threats’ made online or videos he’d seen circulating of contractors being abused.
“We all understand that delays and roadworks are annoying, especially diversions and sitting in traffic. Is there any way of monitoring how the public are dealing with them because of that?, he asked.
“Those nine per cent could be that they didn’t get the answer they wanted and therefore they’ve complained to us.”
Head of Highways head of highways Jonathan Evans responded: “It’s a real issue the industry is facing and, I think, it is progressively getting worse.
“Roadworkers are either physically or mentally given abuse.
“There’s a trend where it is increasing so we’re really looking to do some proactive communications either now or in the near future. We’ve reached out to Lincolnshire Police to try and come out of this with a project where we’re either saying we can’t tolerate this any more and it’s not acceptable within Lincolnshire and nationally.”
At a meeting of Lincolnshire County Council last week, the executive member for Highways David East said the authority was ‘exploring new avenues’ in a bid to lower the number of complaints.
He was responding to a question from Coun Kenneth Bamford who said: “The latest complaint figures around accuracy and effectiveness of diversion routes provision was second only behind complaints over potholes.
“Officers are being let down by these contractors, particularly with signage and diversionary routes,” he claimed.
Coun East responded: “It’s a difficult matter balancing between contractors and sub-contractors about how we maintain standards we expect as a council and the people of Lincolnshire expect.
“It’s something I’m very aware of and have been working with the Highways team to explore new avenues to get better communication for our residents.
“Some include smart signage and ensuring our contractors do what they say as well.
“We’re aware, we’re working on it and it is something that we will address.”
The Voice asked Lincolnshire County Council if abuse of contractors had particularly been an issue reported in South Holland but a response to the question had not been received at the time of going to press.
