A privately owned road in West Oxfordshire has come in for criticism about the state of its surface. The road at Swinford Toll Bridge, which charges cars five pence to cross, has been described by one road user as looking like the tarmac “has melted”.
The Oxford Mail reported on the concerns, with both motorists and councillors weighing in on the state of the road surface. Jane Johnson, from Minster Lovell, who uses the stretch of road regularly, told the newspaper that both her and her husband are worried that the deteriorating condition of the road could lead to an accident.
“There’s five really bad potholes and one like a crater, where if there’s another car, you have no option but to go into it,” she revealed.
Dan Levy, West Oxfordshire district councillor for the Eynsham and Cassington ward, told the news provider that as well as being concerned for drivers, he is also worried that the potholes could cause serious problems for cyclists and motorcyclists.
“With my cycling hat on, you see all these chippings come up which can be dangerous for cyclists,” he asserted.
Mr Levy also revealed that the owners, who bought the toll bridge along with the cottage next to the bridge, a car park and four acres of land, stopped collecting the toll in January and the road’s condition has deteriorated in that time.
The land, road and cottage were all sold at auction in 2009 for just over £1 million, the newspaper revealed.
County councillor for the Eynsham division Charles Matthew told the newspaper that he frequently receives emails from his constituents complaining about the state of the toll bridge, adding that he is “fed up” by the lack of action on the part of the owners.
In March this year, the Guardian reported that local authorities in England and Wales filled fewer potholes in 2019/20 than they had in 2018/19.
The publication revealed that they filled 1.5 million potholes in the last tax year, compared with the 1.9 million potholes that were dealt with in the 12 months before, research from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found.
The report also noted that, during this time, average highway maintenance budgets for councils fell by 16 per cent, while the amount that they were forced to pay out in compensation as a result of damage caused by poor road conditions climbed by 17 per cent.
According to the report’s authors, it would take 11 years and require funding of £11.1 billion to get all the roads in England and Wales back into “a reasonable, steady state”.
Rick Green, chairman of the AIA criticised the government’s approach to local highway maintenance budgets, describing the “stop-start approach” as “wasteful”. He added that providing short-term cash injections with no longer-term plan “does nothing to improve the condition of the local road network on which we all rely”.
Whether you have responsibility for maintaining a private road or you work within a local highways department, you may find that pothole repair products can help you fix road surfaces quickly and efficiently.