Black tarmac shovelled into an unthinking void

There’s a great deal of activity at the moment in the Castle Square/Old Steine area with huge numbers of paving stones and granite setts being expertly laid (Photos 1 and 2). But if a paving stone is damaged in most city conservation areas the paving stone is broken up, no chance of laying another paving stone, just black tarmac shovelled into the void.  (Photos 3 Kemp Town and Photo 4 Preston Park Avenue).

Broken and ready for tarmacking. (Photo 5)

You have to wonder what the engineers in the Council’s Highways Department think about such a difference in the visual appearance of the city’s pavements.  Pristine smooth paving in Castle Square and an untidy mixture of tarmac and paving stones elsewhere.