Haverhill resident expresses anger over 'diabolical' pothole situation in Clarendon Road
A Haverhill resident has expressed his anger over the ‘diabolical’ state of a road scattered with potholes which have not been repaired in over two years.
John McDonagh, of Landseer Court, first approached Suffolk News' sister title the Haverhill Echo in June 2019 saying he was ‘fed up’ after forking out more than £1,000 for repairs to his car, which he blamed on potholes in Clarendon Road, close to his home.
A Suffolk Highways spokesperson said at the time the potholes did not pose a ‘significant safety risk’ and told John they were not deep enough to be treated as a priority.
Almost three years later, John, 75, says no repairs have yet been made and the road is in a ‘diabolical’ state, with water regularly flowing into the holes.
“It might not be in my lifetime, but the road's going to sink,” he said. “We come down here now about three/four miles per hour. We dare not go down there faster.”
John said other roads in the area had been repaired but he did not understand why Clarendon Road had not.
“I just cannot understand what Suffolk County Council are doing,” he said.
He added: “The annoying part is that why have they done one of the roads and not ours. They have never been down to check it in three years.”
John said the situation was getting to a point where he and other residents had even considered signing a petition to Matt Hancock, MP for West Suffolk, to try to have the issue resolved.
He added he did not know why he was paying road taxes if Suffolk County Council would not do anything to fix the potholes.
In response, a spokesperson for Suffolk Highways reiterated the potholes were still not deep enough to warrant action.
“The main section of the road surface was originally concrete, which was historically overlaid with a thin layer of asphalt,” they said.
“The majority of the reported defects are to the top layer only, which are not deep enough to warrant a repair as outlined in our Highway Maintenance Operational Plan (HMOP), which states a depth of at least 40mm.
“However, we will continue to monitor the location closely.”
