A pothole campaigner is threatening to take the county council to court over Buckinghamshire’s fast deteriorating roads.

Mark Morrell, known as Mr Pothole, has joined forces with the Bucks Free Press in a new campaign and is urging Bucks residents to nominate the worst-affected roads in the county in a bid to force Bucks County Council (BCC) to act over the growing crisis.

He will then select the road that has received the most nominations and issue a legal notice under 56 of the Highways Act, ordering BCC to fix the damage within six months.

If the council fails to respond to the notice within one month Mr Morrell, who lives in Brackley, will then attempt to take legal action through the courts.

Bucks Free Press:

Anyone has the right to issue BCC with a legal notice over damaged roads

Speaking to the Free Press, Mr Morrell said: “If everyone has the right to issue a section 56, which they have, even if 10 per cent of the population issue a notice to the county council then [Government] will have to sit up and listen.

“What I am doing is about empowering people to be able to realise they have got some power rather than just sit there and do nothing. When it is issued they have a month to get back to you, and they tell you they don’t think the road is in a bad enough condition or they agree that repairs need to be done.

“If they don’t come back to your satisfaction then they issue a notice to the court.”

The law gives anyone the power to request the appropriate authority to take action and fix roads that have fallen into a state of disrepair.

Mr Morrell was quick to point out that residents should not nominate individual potholes - but entire roads that are deteriorating rapidly.

‘Mr Pothole’ has amassed thousands of followers on Twitter, stretching as far as India, and has already issued a section 56 notice to Northamptonshire council to fix the deteriorating roads.

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Harsh weather conditions over the winter have caused the roads to fall into a state of disrepair and frustrated residents have taken to social media to complain about the state of the roads and damage to vehicles.

According to council figures, cash-strapped BCC forked out a staggering £121,648 from 2013 to 2017 to refund residents’ claims after their vehicles fell victim to potholes.

A total of £120m has been spent on resurfacing the county’s roads over the past seven years however a lot more work still needs to be done according to council leader Martin Tett – who has called for more cash from Government to help fund repairs.

BCC currently receives £10 million from Government for road repairs – however between £20 million and £25 million a year is needed in order to see “major improvements”.

Cllr Tett said: “The roads in this county are not in a good state. They are not as good as I would want or any resident would want.

“We have been really badly hit by this winter and it is one of the worst winters I have known certainly since I joined the council back in 2005. 

“It is not just the fact, I get people who say but we have winter every year, it is not the fact that winter was a big surprise to me – I have that on my calendar too. But the issue is we have had an exceptional winter in terms of rain in particular.

“We need more money from Government for resurfacing roads so they are actually going to stand up to bad weather in years to come. 

"We only get £10 million a year from Government. What we need is to be spending £20 million a year. £10 million won’t even keep the roads in their current condition”.

To nominate a road, email Andrew Colley under the subject “worst road in Bucks” at andrew.colley@london.newsquest.co.uk or write to Bucks Free Press, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, Loudwater, HP10 9TY.