April 15, 2022 3.00 pm This story is over 23 months old

Lincolnshire highways bosses promise full junction repair after pothole patching complaint

Cyclist left unimpressed by works
How the potholes looked before (left) and how the look now (right). | Images: Lincolnshire Police Special Operations & Richard Parker Twitter

Lincolnshire County Council has promised a dangerous junction will undergo a full repair after further complaints about a patching job.

The authority originally said the junction between South Hykeham Road and Bridge Road in Haddington would have temporary repairs by April 1, with full works to follow after an accident involving a motorcyclist sparked complaints from Lincolnshire Police officers.

Force staff were concerned it was an “accident waiting to happen”.

However, the initial works were not done until nearly two weeks later and local cyclist Richard Parker was left unimpressed by them.

“[It was] only patched today. And they still left deep potholes which continue to be a danger to cyclists and motorcyclists,” he tweeted to Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines on Thursday, April 14.

He later added: “No one seems to have checked that all the potholes were filled.”

Richard told the LDR Service he cycled the route regularly but had lately been avoiding it because “the potholes made turning very problematic due to the risk of coming off”.

He said he would continue to avoid it for now as he considered it a “dangerous junction”.

“It’s a regular place used by cyclists leaving Lincoln and North Hykeham as they head south,” he said, adding he had lost count of the number of reports that had been made.

“Why does it it takes an accident for LCC to eventually take action? Cyclists are vulnerable road users but LCC seem not to take account of our needs for safe roads too,” he added.

The temporary repair works carried out by Lincolnshire County Council left a lot to be desired for one cyclist. | Image: Richard Parker

A spokesman for the authority confirmed the temporary works had been delayed, but due to the Easter holidays the relevant staff were not available to confirm the reason why.

However they said they have “now been carried out and address the immediate concerns at the junction as part of the temporary measures”.

“This set of works has taken care of the very worst areas of the junction for the period of time between now and when the major structural work takes place by the end of April,” said the spokesman.

“The whole junction is due to be reconstructed at the end of this month.

“The works will include structural patching underneath the surface to aid longevity.”

Lincolnshire County Council in recent months has been campaigning, unsuccessfully, for the government to reinstate around £12.5million in lost funding – a slash to the authority’s roads budget of 25%.

The funding equates to around 72,000 potholes left unfilled.

The authority was forced to change its original plans for a 3% tax rise, instead hiking it by 4.99% in response, as well as putting £2.3million of its reserves aside to balance the books.