Residents who have been battling to have their road repaired have been left with “smiling faces” as Buckinghamshire Council "recognise the recent change in the law".

John Marshall has been leading the fight for the potholes on Westhorpe Road to be repaired ever since he moved into the street.

After being told they had to pay for the resurfacing themselves in 2019, John began to take Crown Court action on behalf of his road.

John said: “Ever since I have lived here it has been a struggle to get them to do anything.

“We have had to take out a Crown Court action and it has appeared to have the desired effect.

“In September the council told us they were having a meeting about the road and they decided they will fix it.

“It was the arrival of the Crown Court papers that prompted them to do something.

“The court action is still pending and until the road is satisfactory repaired I am not going to withdraw it.”

A notice had been left at the top road for months urging residents to express their concerns on the road to the council.

The notice read: “Unfortunately, Bucks Council deny their liability to maintain the road and blames the residents of both Westhorpe and Allanson Roads for its derelict state.”

John added: “They have been telling everyone it’s a private road despite having laid a metal surface on it in 2004 and having repaired it on numerous occasions since then.

“Actions speak louder than words, why would they be coming to repair a private road.

“It became a publicly owned highway in 2016 under the countryside and right of way act which effectively took possession of all these old byways so even if they were private roads, they became public.”

When the news arrived that the road will be repaired John says he has “never seen so many smiling faces”.

He continued: “The other residents say ‘well done’ after all these years.

“It was an open and shut case in my mind so I was amazed they carry on denying our rights to have it repaired as a public road.

Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “I’m very pleased to see that we've been able to schedule these resurfacing works on Westhorpe Road in Marlow.

“The road surface treatment we will use is better than what is legally required given the status of this route as a byway.

"We recognise the recent change in the law and the history of treatments that have been applied to this road in the past, and rather than return the surface to a gravel track, we've chosen to put a new surface layer on for the benefit of residents and all road users.

"We hope residents appreciate the new surface."

The road has now been successfully repaired after works were carried out this week.