Mr Pothole begins possible legal action to force repair of 'horrendous' road in Banburyshire

Mr Pothole has taken up complaints from a couple from the north of England who said they would never complain again about their roads after spending a holiday in the Banbury area.

The story was featured in the Banbury Guardian earlier this month when a B&B proprietor between Chipping Norton and Banbury was embarassed by the state of the area’s roads.

Now Mr Pothole has sent the Chief Executive Officer of Oxfordshire County Council a formal letter about the stretch of road earmarked in the Guardian article – a road between Hook Norton and Great Rollright.

"The formal complaint is the start of the process,” said Mr Pothole – who send similar letters to the CEO of West Northamptonshire Council about the horrendously potholed Halse Road, near Brackley, and to the CEO of National Highways for a badly damaged section of the A43 at Brackley.

“If I fail to get a satisfactory response then I will issue Stage One Section 56 notices under the Highways Act 1980. If they still fail to deal with these out-of-repair roads they can be taken to court.”

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said: “Several schemes are being developed to improve the long-term quality of the Hook Norton Road, although no dates have yet been set for these schemes to be implemented. Unfortunately we do not have sufficient funding to carry out all the work we would like to do as quickly as we would like and so we have to prioritise.

“In the meantime we will keep repairing individual defects as they appear, including any outstanding Fix My Street enquiries.”

Mr Pothole’s revealed to the media that the country’s road network is pitted with 11.5 million potholes – five times more than previous estimates.

Data from 7,000 app users showed 1.5m potholes over just 13% of the UK’s roads. The Asphalt Industry Alliance said putting our roads back into good condition would cost £16.3 billion.

Mr Pothole said people can make their own moves towards legal action by first sending a formal complaint to the CEO of their county council.

“Send it recorded delivery stating your view that the carriageway is Out of Repair. Ask what the county council intends to do about it before you consider issuing a Section 56 Notice under the Highways Act 1980. I would enclose pictures showing the state of the road.

“Carry out a Freedom of Information request asking for the street history – for example when the road was last resurfaced and what the current grip value of the wearing surface is against required standards. Ask how may defects have been reported in the last two years and what action was taken. Ask what condition the county council believes the road is in. Are there any plans for repairs and when?” he said

“If they fail to respond positively, issue a first stage Section 56 Notice. Do this by Recorded Delivery. They have 28 days to respond. If they fail to, you can issue the second stage notice via a magistrates court.”

Those wanting template letters should contact Mr Pothole via Facebook and X.