Residents in a Cheshire village believe they have the worst stretch of road in the county due to the number of ‘appalling’ potholes it has and things have become so bad that a swear jar has been put up due to the anger and frustration the road causes drivers.
Nearly 700 people have now signed an online petition demanding that the pothole-ridden Station Road in Wrenbury is finally repaired this year. Residents say the road is the main way to get in and out of the village, and that temporary efforts to fix the road have been unsuccessful.
For many villagers, the condition of the road is no laughing matter. Parish Councillor Oliver Lowe states in the online petition: "It is the primary access road into and out of Wrenbury. "Essentially, the road drainage failed some time/years ago leading to the poor surface developing.
“Last year the road was due to be repaired, but the funds were reprioritised to another (unknown) job. As such the road fell into significant disrepair. The council have since said that it will be repaired this financial year, but it needs doing as soon as possible, certainly before another winter.
“Villagers are also concerned that the funding will be reprioritised to another job again. The council are presently undertaking a few temporary repairs to the worst of the potholes that are forming, but they are interim measures only."
When CheshireLive visited the road earlier this week, a reporter discovered that someone had humorously placed a satirical swear box close by - presumably to compensate for any anger caused by going through.
Responding to the petition, Mary White said: "It's the worst road I've ever been on! Dollops of tarmac are not a road repair!" Christine Grove added: "This road has been in appalling condition for years and is dangerous. It is also on the route of the Cheshire Cycleway - an important tourist amenity."
Cheshire East Council said repair work on Station Road was due to take place later this year, and would continue to maintain the road and repair ‘urgent defects’.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: “We are currently programming work for this financial year on Station Road, Wrenbury, in collaboration with Network Rail. In the meantime, we continue to maintain the roads and repair any urgent defects in line with our well-managed highways code of practice to keep the network safe.
“We are constantly working to maintain the condition of our roads, within very challenging financial constraints. The council has a £180m backlog of works needing to be done, as a result of reductions in government funding for road maintenance over the last decade.
“All works on the highways and footways have to be prioritised in accordance with the budget available across the whole borough and we place the safety of our road users as our highest priority, within the context of the limited budget we have available.
“All roads are classified in line with guidance from the Department for Transport and the code of practice for well-managed highways. As part of the council’s network hierarchy, the roads in questions form part of our secondary distributor roads. These roads have the same maintenance levels and inspection regimes as our B-road network."
