Gone to pot

ROAD to ruin . . . the street outside Lyndhurst School which has come under fire from a driving instructor

A DRIVING instructor has slammed the state of the road outside Lyndhurst Primary School.

Ron Wise (60), of Elm Road, Limeside, said potholes along one side of the Heron Street carriageway are blighting motorists.

Workmen recently dug up the lane nearest to the school to put in a new water main.

The lane was resurfaced but workmen left the opposite side of the road untouched.

The former police officer, who works for Sykes School of Motoring, said he believed the work was a waste of taxpayers money.

He said: “Workmen have put road humps in and painted a ‘School’ sign over the road.

“They had to move all the parked vehicles to carry out the resurfacing so why not do the job properly?

He added: “Someone hasn’t bothered to go and look at what was needed.

“My job is concerned about road safety and I expect to be able to drive along roads that are properly maintained.”

Councillor Mark Alcock, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said the council was not involved in the resurfacing work.

He said: “It is in fact simply replacing the road surface following work on the water main.

“As this work was carried out by United Utilities it was its responsibility to ensure everything was put right following replacement of the water main — and remains so for the next two years.

“The council has had no involvement.

“The council is dealing with a backlog of potholes and other road repairs due to damage caused by the winter frosts and gritting.

“This is affected by a finite budget and a shortfall in government funding.

“The council is aware of the condition of Heron Street and as with many other roads we will be looking at what can be done.”

A spokesman from United Utilities said: “The nature of our work means we often have to dig up roads.

“We pride ourselves on making decent repairs, and handing back roads to motorists in a good condition.

“We only have authority to repair sections of a road that we have been working on.”