A COUNCILLOR has claimed potholes across Colchester are a 'highway emergency' and need to be fixed urgently. 

Dave Harris, who is a borough and county councillor for the Berechurch ward, has hit out at what Essex County Council refer to as ‘managed decline’. 

County Hall revealed there was no budget to improve roads in Essex, at the end of last year.

In its budget statement from Essex County Council said they were investing less than half of what was needed to correctly maintain its roads, footways, street lighting and other rights of way.

The statement revealed that assets such as roads and footways are in ‘managed decline’, as Essex County Council is investing £36.675 million per year of the £77 million required to maintain the assets.

On the increase of potholes in his area, Mr Harris said: “I’m upset that cars and bikes are being damaged by these potholes which are deteriorating day by day.

“Residents’ suspension, tires and wheels will be needlessly damaged. The situation is dire, it really is. If there was ever a highway emergency, this is it.

 “You can see that nothing is being done, I’m sure the staff are more and capable, but there just isn’t the money to sort it.”

Speaking on the conditions of Colchester's roads, an Essex Highways spokesman said: “We look after 5,000 miles of roads, the equivalent of travelling overland from Chelmsford to Beijing.

"It is one of the largest road networks in the country, with a mix of urban and rural roads, which each bring their own challenges.

"We carry out regular inspections of our roads and pavements, as well as having the public reporting defects to us through our online ‘tell us’ tool.

"When a defect is reported to us, we send an inspector out. The defect is then recorded on our risk register and given a risk factor score as described on our website. Due to our limited resources, we must prioritise our work and fix the higher-risk issues first.

“For more information on our repair criteria and road maintenance strategy, please visit: bit.ly/3ZrWhOE.”