Pothole-damaged Haverhill roundabout to be resurfaced by Suffolk County Council after successful campaign by councillors

Two councillors who campaigned for repairs on a rutted and poorly maintained roundabout in Haverhill have welcomed Suffolk County Council’s (SCC) decision to resurface the road.

The mini roundabout at the junction of Sturmer Road and Bumpstead Road has been in a poor state for years and despite potholes being filled in numerous times, they have quickly deteriorated, due largely to the road being used by HGVs.

Thanks to pressure on Suffolk Highways and senior politicians at the county council by Cllr David Roach and Cllr Joe Mason, both Suffolk county councillors, the roundabout and surrounding road will be resurfaced.

The resurfacing will be carried out between June 3 and 5 between the junctions for Chalkstone Way and Hamlet Road.

Cllr Roach, within whose ward the roundabout sits, said: “It’s a mess.

“They (SCC) did a patch-up which was rubbish. I created merry hell with the cabinet members and they got on to the engineers and they admitted they’ve not done a very good job and they came back and did a second patch, which wasn’t very good. We said what’s the point of doing that and coming back and doing another patch-up that was rubbish.”

Cllr Roach has also asked the county council to look at the positioning of the give way signs on the approach to the roundabout, with a view to improving its safety for users.

He said: “If you are coming from Sturmer the give way marks need to be different because they just tear through there and come up pretty fast and just tend to go through the roundabout.”

In May, Haverhill man Jack Tappin called for the roundabout to be made safer after he was badly injured when being hit by a car as he cycled round the roundabout.

Cllr Mason said he contacted the county council chairman and cabinet member for highways, plus highways officers, to complain about the poor repairs.

“I was very disappointed that the improvement work was not carried out to the standard that we would expect,” he said.

“However, it was good that they did a temporary fix and even better that Suffolk County Council has committed to doing a proper resurfacing of the junction.”

Cllr Mason said: “Even though it is being resurfaced in June I remain frustrated about the amount of wear this junction continues to have from lorries where the wheels are scuffing up the Tarmac.

“As a councillor I would support a review of lorry routing and its suitability for being used by large lorries because this is a serious ongoing cost issue to the council.”

Cllr Mason said that he would continue to lobby for other roads in Haverhill to be resurfaced or repaired where necessary.

He added: “Residents were rightly justified in being concerned about the roads and as local county councillors we have been fighting hard to secure the best outcomes.

“I do feel it would be wrong of me not to validate how residents feel. It is understandable.”

Earlier this week Suffolk County Council announced 400 roads across the county were set for upgrades as part of the largest ever project of its kind.

This week, Suffolk Highways will begin work to resurface 102 roads – with a further 319 in the pipeline later this year, for a total of 421.