Labour’s Parliamentary Candidates for Chichester, Crawley, East Grinstead and Uckfield, East Worthing and Shoreham, Mid Sussex and Worthing West have joined together to launch a petition aimed at forcing improvements to road maintenance across the county.
With data from Freedom of Information requests revealing that West Sussex now has the third worst record for pothole claims in the country, it may be no surprise that local Facebook Groups are filled with complaints about the state of the county’s roads.
Millions of pounds in additional funding for road maintenance
While Government cuts to council funding over the years have reduced the amount of money available to pay for repairs, Labour Party Parliamentary candidates have identified several new funding sources not currently tapped by the council. Together it is claimed that they stand to generate millions of pounds in additional funding for road maintenance. This includes the windfall boost in income stemming from districts adopting an empty home premium on vacant second homes and putting the almost 2m vacant parcels of land and properties currently owned by the county council to commercial use.
Launched under West Sussex County Council’s petition scheme, the signatures of just 3,000 people living, working or studying in the area will trigger a debate at the county council on its contents, forcing councillors to discuss and vote on whether to support its proposals for fixing the potholes in the county’s roads.
Potholes bring the area down
Tom Collinge, Labour candidate for Chichester, comments: “Residents of Chichester and the surrounding area have been vocal about the unacceptable state of the roads for some time. Potholes bring the area down and risk damaging our vehicles. By working together as Labour’s team in West Sussex we’re going to get the issue onto the council’s agenda and the ball is then in their court to act.”
Peter Lamb, Labour candidate for Crawley, has also raised concerns over how road repair work is targeted: “Crawley has received a pitiful 24 road maintenance schemes of the 516 allocated by the county council over the last two years, despite having some of the most heavily used roads in the county. It’s clear to almost everyone that we not only need greater investment in the local road network, but we also need to ensure that the investment is allocated fairly.”
The parliamentary candidate for East Grinstead and Uckfield, Ben Cox, describes his constituency as being in the worst of all worlds, sandwiched as it is between East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey county councils. “This means that the roads are poorly managed, with councils walking away from their responsibilities. We need them to work together and fix our roads that are way past their use-by date.” Cox claims that the West Sussex Labour group are best placed to push for better roads and looks forward to having an active Labour government once again in Westminster.
The craters in our highways
Another sponsor of the petition, Tom Rutland, Labour candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham, highlighted the impact on local residents: “Time and time again, residents raise the state of roads across East Worthing and Shoreham with me. Countless people – including myself – have had to shell out for repairs to their cars as a result of the craters in our highways. West Sussex County Council must get a grip on this problem.”
Dr Beccy Cooper, the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for Worthing West and Leader of Worthing Borough Council, echoes their concerns. She has found that the condition of the local roads is the number one complaint shared with her by residents.
“Whether you’re walking, cycling or driving, you will be affected by the craters that have appeared and the terrible condition of our roads and pavements. What’s worse, many of the repairs aren’t good enough, and potholes keep coming back soon after they’re fixed.”
The problem, as Dr Cooper identifies, is not just the number of potholes in roads across the county, but also the quality of the repairs when they’re carried out. The dilemma that local councils face of limited budgets stretched across numerous statutory obligations drives short-term decision-making and cuts to the road repairs budget.
Precisely seven minutes to fix a pothole
One West Sussex resident recently watched from his window as a road crew turned up to mend the large pothole that has been causing havoc in the road outside his house for months. They were there for precisely seven minutes, and when he went outside to investigate, he discovered that the pothole had been infilled with a soft material which, as he said in exasperation, “would disappear the first time a heavy truck drove over it”.
Responsibility for road repairs is spread across several different bodies, which makes it difficult for the public to know who to contact when they have a complaint to make. Social media platforms often carry bitter attacks from members of the public on their local council, blaming them for the state of the roads, when the responsible body might actually be Highways England. There’s a suspicion that this level of confusion suits central government, as it deflects the blame onto local authorities.
So, who is responsible for which roads?
Broadly speaking, Highways England is the government company responsible for all motorways and major A roads, while local roads come under the aegis of the relevant local authority (which might be the county council or your district council – further layers of confusion). Sometimes the difference is unclear, so if you’re concerned about the state of a road or have a complaint about a dangerous pothole, it’s always worth checking with your local highways authority which body is responsible for that stretch of road.
If you’re seeking compensation for a damaged tyre or wheel, don’t raise your hopes. Cash-strapped local authorities will seek ways to avoid paying out whenever they can, but even so the car-maker Citroen estimates that in 2022 local authorities paid out £22.7 million in compensation to motorists whose cars had been damaged by road craters. That amount would have covered the repair of 340,000 potholes. Potholes are a political battleground and in the end it’s the road user who suffers.
If you’re interested in signing the petition launched by the group of Labour Party PCCs, it’s now live and can be accessed online at: https://chng.it/b4W4Mfz8sH.
Note: this article is based on a press release received from the West Sussex Labour Party.
