Extra road resurfacing pledge after pothole patch-ups branded ‘a waste of time’

Roads plagued by “menace” potholes across Caerphilly will be resurfaced, including one in Groeswen where a pub landlady said previous patch-up jobs had been “a complete waste of time and money”.

The county borough council will spend an extra £2.6 million from the Welsh Government on resurfacing 25 stretches of road and on increased maintenance.

Among the areas on the council’s priority list is Groeswen Road, where concerns were raised previously about the impact of potholes on local traders.

Mair Arthur, landlady at the White Cross Inn, said taxi firms had “stopped calling to my pub in the village due to damage to their vehicles”, and previous repairs had “washed out” in bad weather.

“It’s a complete waste of time and money while my business, the chapel, and our village are becoming inaccessible,” she said.

Penyrheol ward councillor Steve Skivens, of Plaid Cymru, said villagers were “suffering” and a Freedom of Information Act disclosure showed 56 patch-up jobs on potholes along Groeswen Road in the space of two years.

Earlier this year, Cllr Skivens called for the council to take “swift action on the potholes menace” instead of focusing on “shorter-term” savings and shrinking resurfacing budgets in previous years.

In reply, a council spokesperson said pothole repair work “continues at pace” and urged residents to “bear with us”.

“In the past two years alone we resurfaced over 400,000 square metres of road surface and repaired in excess of 8,000 potholes,” the spokesperson added at the time.

The new resurfacing programme is funded by £2.6 million Welsh Government funding announced in March, and council cabinet members will also set aside £400,000 of that money for “reactive maintenance” of potholes when required.

The council had already designated £4 million for resurfacing works in this year’s budget.

Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday May 20, council leader Jamie Pritchard said the local authority was “listening to feedback from the community” and is “committed” to resurfacing roads across the borough.

“We want to plough this additional funding into urgently improving the highway network, because we know residents are concerned about the condition of some local roads,” he added.