Potholed road outside my house is worst in Henley

A WOMAN claims the road surface outside her house is in such a bad condition that it must be the worst in Henley.

Sandie Harrow says Bell Lane is a danger to pedestrians and is also causing damp problems at her home.

The 75-year-old interior designer, who lives on the corner of Bell Lane and Bell Street, moved there in 2010 when the residents used to look after the gravel road but it was later designated a highway so it became the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council.

Ms Harrow claims the lane has been “neglected” so it has large potholes that fill with water and an uneven camber which make it a tripping hazard for the elderly people and schoolchildren who use it.

She wants lorries banned from using it as she says they make the potholes worse and believes the road should be levelled and asphalted to prevent accidents.

Ms Harrow, who owns Stocks boutique in Bell Street, said: “Everybody used to think the lane belonged to all the houses here and for some reason they just maintained it. Everybody put £20 a year into a kitty for gravel and then it was just spread about.”

The lane was designated a highway after a campaign by residents to keep the small green in front of the houses from being turned into a car park.

Ms Harrow said: “Since then they’ve come along on about three occasions and filled in. I think the first lot was just gravel. Then they’ve come along with asphalt.

“Anybody with any brain cells would not pour hard asphalt in the middle of pebbles. You get one lorry over it and it moves and then becomes an enormous tripping hazard.

“And they’re very proud of their wonderful black plates that they put in the middle of the lane but it looks awful.

“It is a fast route to Phyllis Court Club so you have elderly people coming up and down here all the time. You’ve also got the children from Rupert House School who come in the back gate here with their mums.”

Ms Harrow said that attempts to smooth the surface of the lane over the years by layering more pebbles had raised its height by 2ft.

She described the difference in levels between the sides of her house as “like a ski slope” and said she had been told by surveyors that this was causing damp to rise up her walls. Ms Harrow said: “The house is dated 1635. It’s my little treasure. I just love this little place but these houses were not built with damp courses. All our cellars are damp.

“With all the gravel that just comes up, damp rises about a metre and a half above the top level, so with every lot of gravel the damp just comes further up my wall.”

The water pipe connected to Ms Harrow’s house from the lane had become so submerged by gravel that when it started leaking, it had to be extended.

She says the road surface has been made worse by building and delivery lorries using the lane.

She said: “We get huge lorries down there. It’s ridiculous. I think they should stop the really large ones because we can’t make this road any wider. I have a security camera, which is a few centimetres deep, and the other day a lorry knocked that off the wall so how close to my house was it?

“In early Nineties a dustcart knocked the corner of the house down and you can still clearly see the marks.”

Ms Harrow believes the solution is for the road to be asphalted.

She said: “As lovely as the pebbles are, nobody can afford every year to come and scrape and dig and it has got to be a once-and-for-all solution. So, sadly, that probably has got to happen. But it has to be taken down to the levels of the road in front of this house and the main road.”

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said: “Bell Lane has been marked as highway since June 2010. Since then 34 defects have been raised at this location.

“There is a Fix My Street enquiry regarding the gravel-type surface, which is currently live.

“We believe one of our highway officers has this enquiry in hand and is assessing whether it meets the threshold for action.”

Meanwhile, the Government has promised Oxfordshire £3.7 million to repair 74,120 potholes and £200 million across the country to fix four million holes.

Henley MP John Howell MP said: “People in this constituency should be able to get to work and to see friends and family without fear of damaging their vehicles due to poor quality roads.

“This funding will not only improve the quality of people’s journey but will also make our roads safer for everyone who uses them.”

The Conservatives claim their councils repaired three times as many potholes on average as Labour-run councils over the last year.