Potholes have been a common sight in Cheltenham for a long time now, many think too long. The Twitter vent of people expressing their frustration on this matter all began with a tweet from the Mayor of Cheltenham, Klara Sudbury.
#Cheltenham #potholes – where’s the worst sections of road surface in our town? (Let me know I will report to #Gloucestershire county council) pic.twitter.com/LYw1jG1FGJ
— Klara Sudbury (@KlaraChelt) 16 February 2018
Klara’s tweet sparked the fury of people who have had enough of the poor standards of the roads.
The potholes along Gloucester Road are hideous on a bike – do I go through and throw myself off the bike or pull round and hope the car behind me isn’t going to try and overtake?
— Rowena Kay (@rowena_kay) February 16, 2018
The Mayor tweeted again on a later date regarding the same issue, receiving more response.
#Cheltenham#homeofthepotholes if #Gloucestershire County Council can’t even maintain the main roads to a decent standard they should hand back responsibility to #Cheltenham Borough most of the inner ring road is so neglected ? it’s dangerous & brings our beautiful town down pic.twitter.com/Gr7CU3LubZ
— Klara Sudbury (@KlaraChelt) February 24, 2018
Shame. A lot of roads local to me are similar. Just the other evening I asked a guy who’d pulled over in his car if he was ok, turns out he’d swerved to miss a pothole and hit another which had blown a tyre. And me? I don’t ride my road bikes on the roads anymore. *shrug*
— Jos Waegnwyrhta (@TheJoeminator) February 25, 2018
Ha yeah. I went for Cheltenham. Twinned with the Grand Canyon.
— Rob Hopkins (@RobJHopkins) February 24, 2018
Cheltenham Borough Council do not currently have the authority to fix the potholes. They have been asking to take over the Highways from Gloucestershire County Council, so they could tackle the problem that isn’t being solved. They currently have not been given permission.
Emma Pike, a University of Gloucestershire graduate said: “Some of the potholes are completely unavoidable, especially those close to the town centre. It does make me worried about what damage it’s doing to my car. The council should really do something about it because the longer they’re left, the worse they are going to get.”
Max Wilkinson, Cheltenham Borough Council’s cycling champion said: “Motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and others have had to put up with dangerous potholes for too long. It’s about time the Conservatives at Shire Hall and the local MP for Cheltenham start to put this right”.
Max is also the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for the next general election.
“Extra funding has been announced to fix the backlog of potholes, but if you look further most of this funding is additional and will barely touch the sides of the problem.”
We contacted the Council on this issue but are still awaiting a reply.
