Councillors row at pothole protest
Nottinghamshire County Council members were involved in a heated exchange at a protest about potholes.
About a dozen protesters gathered outside County Hall in West Bridgford on Thursday to complain about road repairs.
Reform UK's Mick Barton, the current leader, and Sam Smith, the former Conservative leader of the authority, then became embroiled in a debate about who was to blame.
The state of roads around the county has been the subject of frequent focus in recent weeks, with Barton announcing £2m in emergency repairs last week.
After the confrontation, Barton accused Smith of coming to the protest and "making it political".
"He's come out here just to cause a scene, I've come out here to speak to these people and have an adult conversation about the highways and how we're going to improve them," he said.
Smith denied he was trying to cause problems for the leader, and said Barton "just makes stuff up".
"I'm just trying to hold him to account for being the leader of the county council," he said.
"I'm not going to play nicely anymore, I'm going to tell the facts of the matter."
Chris Cook Cann, who lives in Gedling and organised the protest, said the "terrible situation" on the roads was impacted by previous administrations, but also criticised the new Reform UK leadership.
"This Reform administration, who in their election literature promised that they would fix the roads, they've had 11 months to do it and we've never seen it this bad," the 73-year-old said.
"Perhaps if they hadn't put those stupid flags up they'd have a bit more money for a start."
Stewart Rae, 68 and from Mapperley, also joined the pothole protest, and said the problem began with the Conservative central government, which he said "starved local authorities of funding".
"They [the roads] haven't been properly maintained for about a decade," he said.
"Any maintenance that is done is very perfunctory - they just chuck a bit of tarmac in a hole, they don't tamp it down properly, they don't seal it properly, they don't clear out the grit.
"The whole thing is hopeless, so any fix is actually a waste of money."
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