A woman from Bucks has slammed the staggered approach to pothole repairs in her neighbourhood as 'ridiculous and inefficient'. 

Pippa Harrison, 76, of Spring Garden in Marlow has described the roll-out of pothole repairs along her road as ‘ridiculous’ after discovering that work teams were tackling the road cavities one by one.

She said her road consisted of “enormous” potholes prior to the commencement of council-initiated works, though has been surprised by what she views as the “inefficiency” of the repairs.

Pippa said she has spoken to multiple workmen, accompanied by colleagues and large machines, who have confirmed to her that they were employed to fill in just one pothole in what she estimates as an hour to hour-and-a-half-long session.

“It’s such a waste of time – these are full teams who are completing maybe eight potholes a day. Last week, they put up bollards and equipment around the corner from me to fill in one big pothole, then said a different team would be coming back on the same day to fill in another one. It’s ridiculous.”

Pippa added that she was surprised the council found it cost-effective to run such a staggered repair program but believes it may be due to rigid parameters around what constitutes a pothole in need of attention.

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“I think the council has put too high of a benchmark on the potholes it fills in in terms of how wide and deep they need to be.

“You’ll have a hole that isn’t quite bad enough but is nearing, then it’ll get worse and be more of a problem just a few weeks or days down the line.”

Buckinghamshire Council’s current policy on pothole repairs involves a risk-based approach that is dependent on the depth and surface area of a pothole as well as the threat it poses to the safety of road users and the location and usage of the road it is on.

Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “Our Spring Garden roadworks were limited to necessary pothole and surfacing patching between May and August.

“On the workdays, full closures between 9:15am and 3pm were required for safety, with all crews and traffic management equipment cleared from the site by 3pm.

“While larger patches understandably take more time, our priority is high-quality repairs and improved road safety for all users.”