Pothole-scarred roads in Haverhill are just getting ‘worse and worse’

A fed-up resident of a Haverhill estate has voiced his frustration at the lack of work being done to repair pothole-strewn roads.

Steve Saville, who lives in Downton Drive on the Parkway estate, has even likened the state of the roads in that area (as they are in other parts of Haverhill) to those of roads in ‘third world countries’.

Speaking to the Echo on Monday, Steve said: “I’ve been at the (county) council for probably the past three months or more about the state of the roads where we live in Haverhill.

“These roads are just not getting touched. They say it’s on their agenda and it’s got a reference number and so on and so on.

“I drive carefully over them (the holes) but where i live there is no way of avoiding them.”

Yesterday morning, some holes at the junction of Princess Way and Queensway, next to the estate’s row of shops (and where the Echo took photos to accomnpany this story) were filled in by the county council.

But many holes on the estate remain, and although some have had yellow lines painted around them, earmarking them for repair, they still need mending.

Holes remain in – to name just a few locations on the estate – Downton Drive, Queensway, Castle Avenue and Princess Way.

Steve added: “Back in January they marked some holes with yellow lines. It’s been left so long that the yellow paint has disappeared as the holes have got bigger and bigger.

“They’ve done some of the holes and left these ones. I’ve been phoning Suffolk County Council for the past, we are now coming into May, so its four months, and I’ve got nowhere really.

“I’m getting nowwhere. It’s almost like we are living in a third world country at the momenht, the state of the roads.

“They are just opening up and getting worse and worse because there is not enough repair work being done.

“They (the county counciil) will probably say there is not enough money in the budget but it’s never going to get any better.”

Steve also believes the damaged roads – on which the concrete beneath the layer of tarmac is now visible – need completely resurfacing, not just patching up.

Suffolk Highways, which maintains the county’s road network, was approached for comment.