LONG-SUFFERING residents navigating “the worst stretch of road in Colchester” say more than 150 temporary repairs have been carried out along a 100-metre stretch.
Residents and councillors report potholes littering the surface of St John’s Close, Colchester, to Essex County Council’s Highways department on a regular basis.
The defects reportedly cause damage to cars and a danger for schoolchildren at a nearby primary school, as drivers swerve to dodge “cracks and craters” in the road surface.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said he had lived in the area for around 20 years, damaging the suspension on his car four times.
READ MORE: Bid to declare 'highways emergency' rejected by council
“There are over more than 150 repairs, not including potholes, along this relatively short length of road just over 100 meters long.
“Perhaps this is a record amount of repairs in such a short length of road?
“Does anyone know of a worse section of road in the Colchester area?
“There is not actually one section of road without any repairs.”
He added: “There are safety issues apart from damage caused to vehicles because this road is near a school so becomes the drop off area.
“The problem is drivers then try to dodge bad areas in the road which means not all their attention is on parked cars dropping off children.”
Essex County Council’s draft budget set aside £36.7m for road maintenance, but Essex Highways has said it needed £77.7m each year.
"You will never invest enough to cover the 5,200 miles of road in Essex,” said finance boss Chris Whitbread.
Paul Smith, Colchester councillor for the St Anne’s and St John’s ward, called the condition of St John’s Close “absolutely terrible”, adding yellow lines along the road have faded.
“We’ve raised it repeatedly with Essex County Council, we get the usual holding response – they’ll get round to doing it when they can,” he said.
“Given Essex County Council has allocated only half the budget they need for potholes, and given the policy is one of ‘managed decline’, it’s hardly surprising.
“It’s an absolute disgrace.
“If they really need the extra money, and I understand times for councils are tight, they should be brave and say to people they’ll have to have a referendum to raise council tax higher.”
READ MORE: Essex Highways to get Government funding for potholes
An Essex Highways spokesman said: “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 essexhighways.org/roads-and-pavements/how-we-prioritise-highway-issues.”
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