Village campaigner James Thornborough, who highlighted the “shocking state” of roads in Sharow, has had a swift response from North Yorkshire County Council.
Mr Thornborough contacted council chief executive Richard Flinton on January 30 to raise concerns about the uneven and dangerous road surfaces in the village, near Ripon.
He said fear of damage to wheels and tyres was preventing motorists from ‘going green’ by swapping sturdy SUVs for smaller vehicles with less environmental impact.
Mr Flinton promised the condition of the roads would be investigated by the council’s highways team and within a matter of days, council workmen identified 38 potholes and a temporary tarmac fix was applied.
Before … Some of the 38 potholes in Sharow and after … with temporary tarmac patches in place (pictured below)
Following a site visit by members of the council highways team, Nigel Smith, the county’s head of highway operations, sent Mr Thornborough a detailed email. It said:
“Sharow Lane and New Road are at a stage where preventative maintenance is not an option and a more substantial maintenance scheme will be considered for inclusion in our Forward Capital Programme, which presently means that the earliest a planned maintenance scheme could be delivered would be during the 2023/24 financial year.
“By way of further information, it is anticipated that a full ‘plane out and resurface’ scheme is required at this location, which will require funding of up to £200,000.
“In the meantime we will continue to do the annual safety inspections and reactive inspections to keep these carriageways in as safe a condition as possible and keep the matter under regular review.
“To that end I have asked the local area team to keep you apprised of matters with a further update at the end of March 2022 when we are reviewing our delivery programme for 2022/23.”
Mr Thornborough told the Stray Ferret:
“It was refreshing to receive such rapid and positive responses from senior county council officers and I just hope for the sake of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, that we will eventually see a more permanent fix for our patched-up roads.”
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