Banbury roads resurfaced around parked cars and over new markings

Fresh white, yellow and speed limit markings had been applied to the original surfaces of Bretch Hill and Edinburgh Way at the beginning of September only to be resurfaced this past week.

Adding to residents’ bemusement was the fact that parts of the new surface had been laid around parked cars leaving sections of the old road surface exposed.

OCC said in a statement: “Bretch Hill in Banbury was added to the schedule for micro-asphalting which is a cost-effective way of sealing and resurfacing roads.

“Because Bretch Hill was added to the list at short notice, lining work that had already been planned went ahead in error.

“While this is regrettable the cost to redo the work will be minimal and the overall benefit for road users of the improved surface will outweigh any disruption.

“Because of the nature of micro-asphalting it is possible to work around obstacles like the cars that had been left parked despite us putting up advance notices suspending parking.

“Although we are not allowed to tow people’s cars away we do have plans to return to the area to finish the work. Again, because of the nature of micro-asphalt it is relatively easy to return to fill in small areas with no detrimental effects.”

Despite the error, the silver lining is the fact that the roads are being repaired in part due to an extra £10m added to the road repair budget by OCC.