Quite a few people have complained to me about the council’s surface repairs on Newtonhill Road in the village.

Yesterday a squad of council staff sprayed tar and spread chips on parts of the road which which were showing early signs of distress and breaking up. If water gets into the cracks when temperatures drop the ice cracks open the surface and potholes appear. Accordingly the council’s roads service took action to prolong the useful life of the road.

However many residents are unhappy because the loose chips can be a skid risk if drivers go too fast. Furthermore speeding drivers throw up chips which can damage paintwork.

It is not a popular method of sealing road surfaces, but is becoming used more and more by local authorities as they try to make best use of the funds they have.

Council officers tell me that “surface dressing is a process where a thin film of hot bitumen emulsion is spread on the existing surface and then a layer of dry uncoated chippings are spread over the bitumen film. This process provides a cost effective method of maintaining basically sound roads while improving the surface texture. On high speed roads or where there is heavy turning traffic a higher specification of the bitumen emulsion and chipping helps to reduce damage and improve skid resistance.”

A similar treatment was given to Bruntland Road in Portlethen last year. At that time a senior roads officer told Portlethen community council that in an ideal world they would prefer to provide a Rolls Royce repair, but the financial situation means it has to be a Ford Focus.

I have asked council officers to give priority to sweeping up the loose chippings.