ROAD maintenance is expected to be overhauled in York after an in-depth study found it's performance was not good enough.

The City of York Council-prompted Best Value review showed city roads had suffered high levels of damage.

And, although it concludes that the service is performing well, it states that it could be better.

Road users also told researchers that a communication problem existed between the council and them.

"Three separate customer surveys indicate that there is a problem with lack of communication on the part of the council about what it actually does in respect of maintaining the highway," said Nigel Burchell, the authority's senior consultant in the development and transport section.

"Customers appear to have low expectations about the council's standards of service, whereas in reality the council's performance generally exceeds their expectations.

"In the long term, more effective communication should have a positive effect on overall attitudes towards the condition and maintenance of roads and pavements."

The study found that customers were concerned about road safety, and wanted the council to concentrate more on finding faults and putting them right.

And they wanted footpath repairs to take precedence over roads.

At the moment, highways maintenance is carried out by a mix of the council's own teams and outside contractors.

Councillors meeting on Friday will be asked to consider adopting a new style of working for this set-up, encouraging closer partnership working, pooling experience and knowledge and setting new targets to meet customer demands.

"In order to achieve this, client and contractor will have to develop a new way of working that focuses on maximising customer satisfaction and pools the knowledge and talents of staff and management," said Mr Burchell.

"One way forward would be to appoint a project manager, at an estimated cost of £36,000 a year, to lead the process of continuous service improvement."

Another option which will be put before councillors is to carry out a full test of the service, with an officer responsible for close monitoring of all work being carried out.

It is suggested that the first option be implemented for the short term, with the second option put in place for a long term solution.

Updated: 08:34 Monday, October 15, 2001