Locals create ‘Pothole Land’ after becoming fed up with holes in the road

A group of residents fed up with potholes on their road have created a ‘Pothole Land’ to raise awareness about the issue.

The ten homes on an unmarked road in the Ceiriog Valley, near Wrexham, north Wales, have endured pothole problems for five years and locals came up with the creative idea for ‘Pothole Land’ last week.

A poster and banner welcomes people to ‘Pothole Land’ with a ‘guarantee’ its potholes are the ‘deepest, longest and widest in Wales’.

It also says people will be treated to ‘two kilometres of potholes with very little actual road to spoil your fun’.

But behind the tongue in cheek campaign is a message from locals for Wrexham County Borough Council to fix the issue.

Russell Kirk, one of the residents behind the idea, said the community wants to work with the council to find a solution.

‘Some parts of the road are now impassable with 18 inch potholes, a Mini could go down them,’ he told Metro.

‘It is a struggle for us because some weeks the binmen refuse to take refuse and there could come a point where emergency services struggle to access the road.

‘We have some elderly residents here over the age of 60 and worry about the impact it might have on them.

‘On top of that many of us have experienced damaged cars and the money to fix this adds up.

‘I moved here five to five-and-a-half years ago and the issue has never been fixed.’

Russell said that himself and other residents have reported the problem multiple times to Wrexham Council but have heard nothing back.

Across the UK, many councils are struggling including large ones like Birmingham and Nottingham.

This has meant that many councils have warned of cuts to parks, leisure facilities, and culture, as well as maximum council tax rises of up to 5%, to meet cost pressures.

In February last year, 19 councils were allowed to sell property and other assets to pay for services.

Part of the reason why residents like Russell decided to raise awareness is to call upon central government to give local councils more money to fix pothole problems like this.

‘As a community we came together and designed the sign and banner because we want to raise a profile and work with Wrexham Council on this to come up with a solution,’ Russell said.

‘Potholes are not just a problem for us either – they are an issue further down the valley as well.

‘We’ve received a positive response from people outside of the community as well.

‘A guy travelled down specifically to see the sign and banner the other day.’

Wrexham County Borough Council has been approached for comment by Metro.

On its website, the council says that works are ‘prioritised based upon annual condition survey data’.

It also says that scheduled repairs can be postponed due to ‘budget adjustments or public utilities emergencies’.

The pothole nightmare has cost UK drivers a record-breaking £579,000,000 to fix – and they can be even deadly.

Motoring experts have revealed the true cost of potholes up and down the country as repair costs hit an all-time high.

It is not just drivers who face pothole-ridden roads and the risks that come with it – they can be particularly dangerous to pedal cyclists and motorcyclists as well.

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