A REGULAR Orange car park user has questioned the point of council contractors painting white lines over open potholes in need of repair.
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Steven Anderson said the council car park behind a fast food shop in Peisley Street was in poor condition.
"They've painted over the potholes," he said.
Mr Anderson said painting the lines defined the individual car spots, which meant council parking officers could continue to police the site.
"They're making money out of it. They'll book people for staying over the two-hour limit," he said.
"If it is going to be this bad they should just giving it [parking] to you for free."
Mr Anderson said some of the potholes were deep enough to be a safety hazard.
"I think it is very dangerous for people walking through it," he said.
"People getting out of their cars could twist their ankles."
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Mr Anderson said the potholes should have been fixed when the lines were painted.
And he said other areas of the car park needed repainting, including signs and information on the road.
"It is obvious they need to fix it," he said.
"I think it's just a trap for young players myself."
Orange City Council spokesman Nick Redmond said the white lines were painted by out-of-town contractors to the council.
"When line-marking contractors come to Orange they are only in town for a short period of time, at short notice and have a number of jobs to be done," he said.
It would have been preferable to have our jet patching crew complete repairs to potholes before the line-marking was done.
- Nick Redmond, Orange City Council spokesman
"They are often in a position where they have to work around parked cars to get a job done during normal business hours."
Mr Redmond said the potholes would be repaired later this year.
"It would have been preferable to have our jet patching crew complete repairs to potholes before the line-marking was done," he said.
"But sometimes it's impossible given tight timetables to get small projects like that happening in the right order.
"While most of the surface of that car park is generally in good condition, the work to repair those potholes is expected to be completed in the coming months."
And he said the white lines would then be painted again.
"After the potholes area repaired, the parking lines will be re-painted manually," he said.
A quarterly review of council funding presented to council last month showed $310,000 of the $2.3 million budgeted for renewals of roads, bridges and footpaths for this financial year was spent in the December quarter.
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