I REFER to what currently some might describe as the disgraceful state of many roads in Buckinghamshire, especially in and around the High Wycombe area.

The massive increase in the reporting of incidents of damage to vehicles and personal injury caused directly or indirectly by demonstrably unsafe road conditions, serves to underline the seriousness of this issue For many, to contemplate travelling out at night along unlit roads in a car or on a motorcycle or pushbike is metaphorically to ‘take your life in your hands’.

It has just about reached the stage where you have to be very brave indeed or, conversely, alarmingly unaware of the danger posed by the current unsatisfactory state of many Buckinghamshire roads, from the main trunk roads to rural country lanes.

It is astonishing that in High Wycombe, a local bus service had to be cancelled or detoured around a road that was so badly damaged and so dangerous that buses have been experiencing mechanical damage when attempting to pass through.

The level of growing resentment of and disillusionment with council’s policy and highway maintenance is real and increasing, and should not be underestimated or treated with disdain.

To read in mid January in the local press of the council’s plans to cut the pothole repair budget by £678,000 was just astounding.

Even to read Councillor Mrs Letheren’s immediate reaction to this proposal as “very worrying” does not fill one with great confidence for the future of a safe and ‘fit for purpose’ road system in Buckinghamshire.

It is completely unacceptable and might even be described as grotesque that residents should experience real fear and trepidation when contemplating even the simplest undertaking of a local journey to the shops by car.

Take for example a series of potholes along Coates Lane, High Wycombe.

Two of three very large ones actually measure greater than eight inches in depth (more than deep enough to inflict damage to wheels and suspension) and furthermore, when it rains they fill with water and virtually disappear under an all-encompassing puddle to become completely invisible.

The only sign of their threatening presence is an impressive and increasing display of plastic car wheel trims lined up along the bordering hedgerow.

The council officers and their agents must surely by now be aware of the safety implications of leaving this very dangerous situation and others like it, with no adequate warning or even emergency repairs to attempt to reduce the risk. The predictable result for unsuspecting road users can only be more damage and destruction, more shock and injury and more inconvenience and cost. Is this the level of care we expect from our public servants? For sure it is not.

What then is the cause of this present traffic nightmare? Is it a systemic failure in the council’s established policy for ensuring the reliable and safe maintenance of the public highway?

Certainly, we have substantial evidence from previous winter periods that potholes can appear suddenly and in significant numbers. This would seem to be indicative of a regime of underinvestment compounded by marginal maintenance procedures and even poor quality execution of the work.

The situation this year is not qualitatively different, other than the current winter weather conditions we have experienced recently have been a little more severe than has been the norm over recent winters.

However, the conditions have not been exceptional or extreme compared with those experienced in the winters of the mid 1980s. Once again there is a proliferation of dangerous potholes and less than competent road surfaces, with a council response that, for many, appears to be unprepared, untimely and demonstrably not up to the job.

Has nothing therefore, been learned from past experience?

Where is the evidence of appropriate contingency planning? Where is the evidence of the council’s concern for the safety and well-being of those it serves?

On behalf of the residents of Hughenden Valley, we wish to communicate in the strongest possible terms that we take exception being exposed to any unreasonable and continuing risk of damage to our vehicles and the real and alarming risk of personal injury as a consequence of seriously degraded and dangerous road surfaces.

In the minds of many, the council may be regarded as failing those it professes to serve and we must look to our elected representatives with great seriousness, to request that the appropriate questions be asked, for them then to communicate the answers to these questions and, above all, make absolutely certain that the current system which has led to these concerns is critically examined, if necessary mended and rendered fit for purpose in the future.

Paul Cawte, Chairman Hughenden Valley Residents’ Association.

Editor’s note: Kingsmead Road, where a bus service was cancelled, was being repaired this week, while councillors agreed on Monday not to go ahead with proposed cuts to the pothole budget.