Potholes to become more dangerous under the Conservatives

12.00.00am GMT Sat 19th Jan 2008

Proposed changes to Essex County Council's highways maintenance strategy, will mean that people in Essex will have to get used to bigger potholes being around for longer, as the ruling Conservative party fail to balance its funding of road maintenance. The proposals come just weeks after the Conservatives announced a £10m overspend on the highways budget.

Speaking about the proposals, Cllr Ann Haigh, Epping Forest Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson for said: "The report outlining changes to the way potholes and other damage to roads and footpath are to be dealt with, is riddled with inconsistencies and it is hard to see how it will be of benefit to residents in Epping Forest.

"The basic premise seems that potholes and foot-way trips needs to be deeper than any time in the past before being considered for repair. The Conservatives are also making the recommendation that fixing misaligned kerbs will now take 'some time' after 28 days to fix. Residents in Epping Forest may have a greater chance of winning the lottery than seeing a misaligned kerb in their road being fixed."