I've got 99 problems and potholes are one

David Clifft, who represents Essington, said residents on Hobble End Lane in the village were ‘up in arms’ at the state of the road.

The South Staffordshire Council member told the Express & Star he went along the route to see for himself over the Christmas period but became ‘fed up’ after counting so many.

The isolated country lane, which leads to a small number of homes and a farm at the end, joins the A34 Stafford Road at Newtown.

Councillor Clifft has now sent dozens of photographs to highways authority Staffordshire County Council.

He said: “The council need to act.

“I have counted around 99 potholes in a section of road which is less than half a mile long.

“For some reason the council has washed their hands of it. I live quite close to it and over Christmas I went up and got fed up taking pictures.

“There were a lot more than I counted. I sent the pictures into the council and I am now waiting for a response.

“The residents down there are up in arms.

“They have complained about the damage to their vehicles, the damage to cars belonging to visitors’ they are having.

“It is like a scene out of a war zone.”

Councillor Clifft conceded the road likely saw tractors and other heavy goods vehicles but argued the problems had been allowed to build up and had now made the route dangerous.

He added: “You would expect it to have maybe 10 or 20 (pot holes) but it should not have been allowed to get to this extent where there is nearly 100 of them.

“Some of them are quite deep. Domestic vehicles are getting damaged people are telling me they have had to get their tyres and Aluminium wheels replaced.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I went down there.

“The council is supposed to have inspectors driving around the roads looking for problems.

“It only wants a motorcycle to go down and it will be completely different.”

In response Councillor Helen Fisher, support chief for highways and transport, said: “An inspector visited Hobble End Lane in November and found ten defects which have now been scheduled for repair. However because of the cold and icy weather conditions since then there may well be more. We will therefore re-inspect the lane as soon as we can.

“While repairs have been scheduled, Hobble End Lane only leads to two properties and has very little traffic using it and so these repairs will be prioritised accordingly. We are always grateful for reports of any potholes, which are easily done online.

“This year we have invested an additional £5m in road maintenance, fixing more than 31,000 potholes, a fifty percent increase in the previous year.”