Visitors to the Banbury area from the north report horror at potholes - county leader says there's not enough money

The visitors left a glowing review of their comfortable, attractive AirB&B lodgings between Chipping Norton and Banbury, complaining only about the area’s roads. The leader of Oxfordshire County Council said there was not enough money to keep rural roads in decent shape.

The visitors said: "It’s all been lovely - really nice area. The only downside is the council doesn’t invest in the upkeep of their roads – pot holes. (My husband) says he’s never going to complain about our roads up north again."

The owner of the AirB&B contacted the Banbury Guardian to lament her guests’ complaints.

"It's all dreadful. Every now and then they send some ‘workmen’ along who dribble a little bit of tarmac into a hole and go home. The next tractor that comes along collects it all in their wheels and we are back to square one,” she said.

“A couple of years ago I reported a hole. A week later my husband hit the same hole and ruined a wheel. He tried to claim compensation and they told him he couldn't as they were not aware of the hole as it hadn't been reported. Luckily I was able to cut and paste their response to my report a week earlier so they had to pay up.

“The main issue is the dilapidated state of ALL the roads everywhere. It must be a nightmare for cyclists and motor bikes and very dangerous. ‘Repairs’ are done cheaply and badly on only the very worst potholes. They simply don't last, so have to be done time after time - probably costing more than doing it once properly.

"Nothing is done on an overall basis. Google maps, home deliveries, construction traffic and endless new housing create a huge amount of extra traffic and the country lanes can't cope.”

She wrote to the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Liz Leffman, sending her guests’ comments.

Ms Leffman replied: “Oxfordshire only receives a small proportion of the budget required to improve the network condition. Therefore, the authority has had to make difficult decisions, with highways maintenance competing for funding with other essential services such as social care.

“The authority takes a long-term financial planning approach to maintenance, prioritising resurfacing and structural maintenance treatments where it is most needed and where it will deliver the best value, which will benefit road users and communities effectively and efficiently. Unfortunately, this does result in the majority of lower-use roads only receiving a basic level of service to maintain safety.

“Whilst we have recently seen a welcome increase in funding from Government for preventive maintenance work, it still falls short of what is required and comes after many years of insufficient funding – this is a national problem.

"That said, we will always repair defects that meet our criteria to be considered a safety risk and we have allocated an extra £47 million from council tax in our budget over the next two years for pothole repairs,” said Ms Leffman.

“We have a regime for inspecting our roads which is supplemented by public enquires raised through FixMyStreet.”

Information on the county’s roads maintenance is here and a plan of works is here.