A BOROUGH councillor is angry at Essex County Council's refusal to do anything about potholes and pavements in Colchester's Highwoods area.

Ward councillor Gerard Oxford has now reported the pavements in Chinook, Highwoods, to County Hall, five times without anything being done about the problem.

Residents have complained separately too.
 

One dip in the pavement is  almost 5 ft wide and 2.5ft deep.
 

Mr Oxford was able to measure it against his mobility scooter.

He added: “A lady came to me and said she was walking in the dark there and next thing she was on the floor.


“I have reported it five times and still nothing has been done. It is not acceptable. Pedestrian safety is important.
 

“If that was in the road they would have closed the road because it is that deep.”

Mr Oxford said Chinook was not the only road to be neglected on the estate.

Following the complaints, Essex County Council sent an inspector to have a look and he received an email after.
“I could not believe the contents of that email. What I got was the inspector didn’t consider it needed work at this stage. That beggars belief!”

 

A senior engineer at Essex Highways said: “Essex Highways carry out routine highway safety inspections and respond to customer queries and concerns when they are received. All defects across the county are risk assessed and, in order to ensure safety, we have to prioritise work on road defects that present the most immediate safety risk.

An inspection was carried out in July 2013 and the defects were not classified as a priority. The defects will be scheduled for repair accordingly."