TV to focus on town's pothole problem

Members of the Southgate Community Forum were contacted by Scottish Television after the issue of potholes along Southgate Avenue was raised by residents and councillors.

Forum chairman Michael Pickett said: “They phoned up out of the blue and I thought they were pulling my leg at first, but they weren’t.

“I’m not in it but I got Cllr Howard Bloom along with a couple of other people and the people from STV met up and did an interview.

“They did a couple of takes with Howard to camera and that was it.”

The programme, which was commissioned by Channel 5, is due to be shown in late October.

The issue of potholes has also been raised by Henry Smith MP.

Henry wrote to Kieran Stigant, chief executive of West Sussex County Council, seeking assurances the authority was adequately prepared for winter.

He said: “The impact of last year’s wet weather caused over 30,000 potholes and road damage estimated at nearly £10 million.

“With the weather now turning cold, I have called on the county council to ensure that it puts in place a sustainable investment strategy to create resilience in the more than 2,500-mile network of West Sussex highway, particularly for the economically important Crawley and Gatwick area.”

A county council spokesman said: “Recent successive bad winters have led to a deterioration of our unclassified roads nationwide and no less in West Sussex.

“Currently 21 per cent of these roads are now in need of major maintenance compared to a figure of 10 per cent in 2010.

“The combined impact 
of last year’s wet weather 
followed by another hard winter caused damage estimated at nearly £10million highlighted by more than 30,000 
potholes.

“Whilst the WSCC Operation Watershed programme has addressed some of this, the overall condition has suffered.

“Consequently Cabinet is currently considering an investment strategy to restore a level of sustainable resilience back to the network.”