Residents want permanent fix on pothole-hit road

"We just want them to come and resurface it properly, do a proper job and not just put a sticking plaster on it."

Parish Councillor Ian Chapman says his road - the single track Park Lane at Rodsley in Derbyshire - is just one example of the county's potholed highways, which residents have described as "dangerous".

Derbyshire was given the worst "red" rating for the condition of its roads in a new government mapping tool and the Department for Transport says it will offer "dedicated support" to help make things better.

Derbyshire County Council has said it is dealing with the backlog of pothole repairs.

The undulating rural route has stretches with numerous holes - some are over 10cm (4in) deep in places.

Margaret Foot, who has lived in Rodsley for decades, said she is worried because the road is part of a national cycle route and she believes the potholes are "dangerous".

She said the damage residents reported was dealt with "very occasionally" by the county council but "it takes them a long time to come and do it and the fixes don't last five minutes".

Andy Lucas, a Rodsley and Yeavley parish councillor, said the road is an example of a wider problem.

"Parish councillors do a lot of work for the community but nothing gets done and that frustrates you as well as other people that report things to you," he said.

The county council says it has fixed 28,000 potholes across Derbyshire, 18,000 of which were from the backlog of work.

Residents on Park Lane accepted that A and B-roads should come first but said they wanted their concerns listened to.

"There should be a minimum standard of service with the roads," said Andy Lucas.

The latest data from 2024 shows 28% of A-roads were in red (poor) condition, 38% of B or C -roads were rated poor along with 36% of U-roads.

However, this data is up to 2024, so it is difficult to judge the current state of the roads by these metrics.

In the past, Derbyshire leaders have also disputed the claim the county is England's "pothole capital", given it generally uses different methodology to other councils to count potholes, which skews results in comparison to others.

The Department for Transport acknowledged this in its recent data sets, saying Derbyshire is difficult to compare to other authorities and caution should be exercised.

However, it has told the BBC the council is breaching government guidelines by using an alternative method to classify its roads.

Councillor Charlotte Hill, the county council's lead councillor for highways, said people should always feel they can go to the authority to report problems and she also wants roads to get the treatment Park Lane residents are asking for.

"Hopefully by the spring, the pothole numbers are back down to a manageable amount of around two thousand or less and then from that we can really start to gear up the resurfacing and full road treatments," she added.

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