On a Road to Nowhere
James Garrett investigates how one road that leads to just a single property got a complete makeover whilst roads all around are left full of potholes.
Somerset Confidential® special SC 26
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On a Road to Nowhere
Somerset is a vast, rural county. The road network which sprang up to connect its villages to the market towns and the rest of the country is a spider's web of minor roads.
Over 4,000 miles of road criss-cross the county. Responsibility for them is split, with motorways and trunk roads maintained by the Highways Agency and the rest - the vast majority - down to Somerset Council.
Undeniably it is a major task keeping the network in a decent state of repair. Weather and climate change present unique challenges to keeping every road surface in decent condition.
There were 27,671 reported “safety defects” (generally shorthand for potholes) in 2022/23, up 3,500 on the previous year. No wonder, perhaps, that the Prime Minister said recently, when interviewed by BBC Radio Manchester, "Potholes are the number one priority that people raise with me."