Miss Carla McQueen, an East Chesterton resident, asked the Conservative County Councillor Highways lead, Matthew Shuter about the ‘dangerous’ state of Milton Road at Cambridgeshire County Council’s Full Council meeting today, 6 February.

Miss McQueen raised concerns about the very high number of potholes down the length of the road and the cost of what appears to be botched repairs to some done only a few weeks ago.

She said: “I was really astounded when Councillor Shuter admitted that the work cost £20,000 and said that he thought that was good value for money. Some stretches of the road, especially from Union Lane down to Mitchams Corner are dangerous for both cars and cyclists, who come off their bikes cycling over such a poor surface. The roads clearly need to be properly redone where the patching has failed so quickly. In some of the roads just off Milton Road, potholes are also so deep that they are more ‘manholes’ than ‘potholes.’ It seemed to me that there was far too much complacency and acceptance of the high cost for poor quality work.”

Councillors Jocelynne Scutt, who represents Arbury on the County Council and sits on the Highways Committee, said “Councillor Shuter clearly accepted much of the road is in a poor state and blamed the thirty year old surface for the repairs not holding. Perhaps it might have been in a better state and more able to cope with the winter weather if we hadn’t had decades of under-investment by the Tory controlled council in maintaining our highway network. The current cuts will bite even harder and our roads and pavements will just get worse.”

Councillor Scutt added, “The simple fact is that our roads and pavements are now in a dire state of repair and every resident I speak to can point to a trip hazard or a pothole. Milton Road is just one of the most obvious examples because it is a main gateway into Cambridge but we are being let down everywhere.”