Colchester road riddled with potholes could finally be fixed

Lee Scott, who is Essex County Council’s cabinet member for highways maintenance and sustainable transport, visited Queen Elizabeth Way in Berechurch after councillor David Harris invited him to look at the road.

Mr Harris, who is a county councillor for Maypole, was joined by Mr Scott last Thursday, just days after Essex Highways engineers had filled in one hole out of the 40 which had been reported on the road.

The meeting, Mr Harris said, was a step towards having the road re-laid.

He said: “I salute Mr Scott for taking the trouble to drive down from the other side of Chelmsford to come and see me.

“His words were ‘I can see the scale of the problem’ – the road was named after Queen Elizabeth but the road really hasn’t had much maintenance since she came to the throne.

“Lee Scott has got one of his senior engineers to look at it and he will come forward with a solution – I think he knows something has to be done about this.”

At a county council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Harris then presented Mr Scott with a petition which had signatures from residents who want to see the road resurfaced.

“I saved it for the council meeting because it’s in public and it’s minuted.

“[This sort of thing] is all about manging public services.

“It did frustrate me when Essex Highways only filled in one pothole out of the 40 which had been reported – I think Mr Scott shook his head [at that] as well.”

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An Essex Highways spokesman had previously said urgent repairs require the authority to book a permit to close the road, and that the highway had been made safe whilst a permanent repair is programmed.

Mr Harris added he was confident further progress would be made from here on in.

“It’s in Mr Scott’s hands now and he’s going to get his engineers to walk through and see what the options are.

“Then, he’s got to see if he’s got the money to make it happen.”