Suffolk County Council says the Government have unfairly rated them for pothole repairs
They want officials to update their ranking, arguing they’ve put in an extra ten million pounds
A resident has called on a council to be more proactive on fixing potholes after Suffolk was rated one of the worst in the country for road maintenance.
The Department for Transport (DfT) revealed a new rating system on Sunday, which placed Suffolk County Council among 13 other local authorities where expected road maintenance standards were not being met.
The red rating – the lowest possible – was given to the council based on how much it spent on maintenance, despite the current condition of the roads, as well as the authority’s efficiency being given the lesser amber colour.
The council has since criticised the Government’s new system, of which it was only made aware two days before it went live, citing ‘unfortunate inaccuracies’ in the data.
Today, it called on the Government to correct its report by accounting for £10 million in funding, which would give the county an overall amber rating.
Cllr Paul West, lead for operational highways, said: “Make no mistake, we ultimately want a Green status, but it is important that we at least have a ranking that accurately records where we are.”
But Steven Tate, a resident from the Moreton Hall estate, in Bury St Edmunds, said he was not at all surprised to see Suffolk at the bottom of the list.
He pointed to a pothole which has been in Mount Road, outside Moreton Hall Health Club, for more than a month without being addressed, causing damage to drivers.
“It just seems there’s a total lack of coherent management and any sort of progress with fixing all of these things,” he said.
“The time taken is just too long, and too many people are getting damage to their cars — it’s just silly, really.”
A traffic cone has been placed inside the pothole to alert drivers, which he said he has replaced several times.
A Suffolk Highways spokesperson advised against placing traffic cones on the road without the proper authority, as both ‘dangerous and irresponsible’.
Two reports are now outstanding for the same pothole in Mount Road, submitted two days apart.
However, a separate report, made on December 23, relating to the same stretch of road, also citing a cone being placed in the middle, appears to have been closed after works were carried out.
Residents say the three reports refer to the same pothole and have questioned why the one from December was marked as closed.
Suffolk Highways said it filled four potholes in Mount Road on January 6, but could not confirm whether these reports referred to the same pothole.
Addressing problems in Mount Road, the spokesperson said proactive preventative maintenance works would be carried out over the coming days to address existing and potential defects.
Suffolk Highways will also determine whether they require immediate repair or are likely to deteriorate through this winter.
“However, it should be remembered that while monitoring and maintenance are constantly taking place on our road network, new potholes may still occur, particularly as a result of adverse weather conditions such as we have experienced recently,” the spokesperson added.
Mr Tate urged the council to be more proactive after having just had to pay hundreds of pounds in car maintenance as a result of pothole damage.
The Government has said authorities rated red would receive dedicated support to bring them in line with best practice.
Dr Peter Prinsley, MP for Bury St Edmunds, urged the council to engage with the new support scheme and use the money effectively.
“Residents in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket are rightly frustrated by the state of our roads, and this ‘red’ rating highlights that Suffolk County Council is falling far short of what our community expects and deserves,” he said.