Basildon's Great Knightleys 'worst in Essex' for potholes

Great Knightleys has become notorious for long stretches of deep potholes along the length of the 1,500m road.

Images taken from between the junctions with Ballards Walk roundabout and Panadown, approximately a two-minute walk, show a series of deep potholes and broken gravel littered across the pavements and roads.

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“It’s about time they did something to fix the road,” Great Knightleys resident Clive Thomas, 44, said.

Pot holes (Image: Jack O'Connoir)

“It is absolutely and an accident waiting to happen with the number of drivers who swerve to avoid the holes.”

Labour Lee Chapel North councillor Alex Harrison says it’s only a matter of time before the state of the road causes a serious accident.

“The road is a danger to drivers and residents,” he said.

Residents fear a crash on the road as a result of the potholes (Image: Pot holes)

“It absolutely has to be one of the worst roads in the country for potholes.

“There are stretches of the roads where dozens of potholes all seem to merge into one like one long trench almost.”

He added: “This is something I have raised with the county council numerous times and nothing seems to get done about it.

“Basildon seems to always get a poor deal when it comes to roads funding from county hall; this needs to change and Labour will fight to do this.”

Basildon Conservatives have pledged to “demand more money” from the Tory-run Essex County Council to fix potholes across the borough.

The Independent Group and the Lib Dems have also made pothole repairs one of their priorities approaching polling day on May 4.

Conservative councillor Craig Rimmer, responsible for regeneration, said: “Basildon is meant to be, and is, the economic powerhouse of Essex.

“This is why it needs more funding for roads repairs, to improve connectivity for businesses to prosper.

“It’s not acceptable that cars have to swerve to dodge potholes in our borough.”

“As it’s a business centre, our roads take more wear and tear than other parts of the county, which needs to be reflected in funding.”

An Essex Highways spokesperson said: “We look after 5,000 miles of roads, the equivalent of travelling overland from Chelmsford to Beijing. It is one of the largest road networks in the country, with a mix of urban and rural roads, which each bring their own challenges.

“We carry out regular inspections of our roads and pavements, as well as having the public reporting defects to us through our online ‘tell us’ tool. When a defect is reported to us, we send an inspector out. The defect is then recorded on our risk register and given a risk factor score as described on our website. Due to our limited resources, we must prioritise our work and fix the higher-risk issues first.

“Capital patching works have been scheduled to take place on Great Knightleys this financial year. Until then we will continue to inspect the road and carry out urgent repairs where required.

“For more information on our repair criteria and road maintenance strategy, please visit: https://www.essexhighways.org/roads-and-pavements/how-we-prioritise-highway-issues.”