Village potholes spark row about ‘serious negligence’

S10037H13-treeplanting - S10041H13-treeplanting 010313 LP

Tree Planting. Memorial tree being planted by by Mary French in memory of Robin French. Memorial Fields, Steyning. Pictured are George Cockman (District Councillor) with Mary French. — S10037H13-treeplanting - S10041H13-treeplanting 010313 LP Tree Planting. Memorial tree being planted by by Mary French in memory of Robin French. Memorial Fields, Steyning. Pictured are George Cockman (District Councillor) with Mary French.

District member George Cockman (Ind, Ashurst and Steyning) said he was ‘disturbed’ by the ‘negligence’ shown by the county council, which he said had taken too long to carry out repairs.

His comments about the state of Ashurst Road (B1235) were made at the County Local Committee meeting held in Steyning last week .

He said: “I’d written to the committee and provided a map to explain where the pot holes were, but it took a while to hear back.

“For the potholes to be left in that condition is really disturbing. If that isn’t negligence of a serious kind then I don’t know what is.”

Mr Cockman said he had requested for a sign to be installed to warn drivers about the pot holes, but committee member Lionel Barnard said it would be difficult to arrange an officer to head out just to put up a sign.

In response, Mr Cockman referred to Ashurst as a ‘toytown’ for the committee members.

Mr Barnard replied: “We are not just sitting around sipping cups of tea.”

Committee member Ed Dickinson said: “It can take up to 28 days to fill a hole and these ones were not raised as being very serious.”