An end to pot hole hell

Pot holes and the state of Rye’s roads was once of the main concerns raised by residents at the recent Annual Town Meeting.

The town centre and Udimore Road are riddled with deep holes made worse by the icy winter weather in recent years.

Work gets underway at Udimore Road and Ferry road on Monday April 8 and will take three days with day-time lane closures in place.

Work in the town centre takes place from April 11 - 15 in three stages and overnight road closures and diversions will be put in place.

Phase one is Wish Street; phase two Cinque Ports Street from the junction of Wish Street to Market Road and the third stage will be the rest of Cinque Ports Street and Tower Street.

One way systems at Deadman’s Lane and market Road will be suspended during the work to allow access.

Residents were angry that the work has not taken place before now but Rye county councillor Keith Glazier explained: “The reason for the delay was the continuing gas board work in Rye. We had to wait until they had finished. It made no sense to resurface the road and then have people coming and digging it up again.”

The Rye work forms part of a two year road programme in Sussex which is costing £23 million.

A county council spokesperson said: “Since January this year we have fixed more than 30,000 potholes, doubling the number of teams working on the roads and introducing a ‘find them and fix them’ approach. This meant our highways teams made temporary repairs to as many potholes in one area, in one visit, rather than waiting for them to be reported.”

Councillor Matthew Lock, Lead Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: “Like many other parts of the country, our roads have suffered as a result of this winter’s freezing weather, but this programme of essential work will mean better and safer roads for residents.

“We appreciate roadworks of this scale can be frustrating to both motorists and residents, but we will try and minimise disruption. That is why we are doing the work over two years instead of a shorter period of time, and we would ask people to bear with us while repairs and resurfacing are being carried out.

“Details of the work will be posted on the East Sussex County Council website and those residents who are affected will be given advanced notice, including details of the location, duration and any diversions.”