Crawley motorcyclist criticises ‘crazy’ number of potholes in town

Dave Lea, 43, lives on the edge of Crawley in Rusper Road (Ifield Green) and commutes through Manor Royal on his way to and from his work in London on his motorbike.

He said: “Has the relevant authority given up maintaining the roads on Manor Royal?

“The number of holes in the road is crazy and they aren’t small holes. I ride a motorbike and have nearly come off several times at night as I can’t see them. There’s one on Gatwick Road and one on Manor Royal that are three plus inches deep.

“Holes like this are usually filled within 24 hours in London but these have been around for ages.

“Playing ‘dodge the pothole’ on your way to work is nobody’s idea of fun.

“I have to do my job when I get to work, it would be nice if who ever is responsible for looking after Crawley’s roads did theirs.”

West Sussex County Council said it aimed to regularly inspect the county’s roads to identify potholes. The frequency of inspections depends on the type of road.

A council spokesman said: “We are aware that some of the roads we are responsible for maintaining in the Manor Royal area are showing signs of deterioration.

“We continue to monitor them and repair potholes which present a safety concern.”

The majority of roads in the industrial area were built to ‘rigid road’ concrete specifications and several have been overlayered with flexible material such as Tarmac, the county council said. These are the roads which are showing signs of deterioration and include Fleming Way, Manor Royal, Faraday Road and some areas of Gatwick Road, including roundabouts.

The spokesman said: “We have recently undertaken extensive patching in Fleming Way. Faraday Road has been identified for future patching work and a future, full resurfacing scheme. Gatwick Road/Manor Royal roundabout have been identified for joint sealing works and future, full resurfacing. Manor Royal will be fully resurfaced in a future project, too.

“We cannot provide timescales for these schemes as they are all subject to budget allocation and the possibility other schemes could take priority each financial year.

“Meanwhile, all these road sections are subject to a monthly, driven inspection. The next routine inspection is due within the next week. Any safety defects identified will be logged for repair within 28 days, or sooner.”

For more information on how the council identifies and repairs potholes, visit westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/maintaining-roads-verges-and-pavements/road-and-roadside/potholes.