Welcome to ‘Wrenbury-cum-pothole’: village of the damned crater
DISGRUNTLED residents have renamed their village“Wrenbury-cum-pothole” amid complaints that their local authority has failed to fix no fewer than 174 on a single road.
Wrenbury-cum-frith’s welcome sign has been altered to reflect the unofficial renaming and a warning has been added that the potholes will “break your vehicles – and your soul”.
The villagers say that the problems with Station Road began around five years ago and though Cheshire East Council promised to repair the road, residents believe they have been “fobbed off ”.
Rob Cooper, 42, who owns the local garage RC Autos, said the number of motorists coming to him for repairs to damaged wheels and tyres had increased dramatically.
Although he has seen some increase in business as a result, Mr Cooper also said that regular customers had been put off coming to see him as they were reluctant to drive on the crater-filled road.
He said: “I’m doing no end of blowouts and tyres that have been pinched by potholes. It’s just endless. I would normally do three or four tyres every couple of weeks.
“At the minute, I’m doing three or four tyres a day. It’s massive, it’s crazy, really.” He added: “I’m actually losing a few customers because they are not coming here over that road.
“It’s quite unfair, really, because I’m only a small business, I need that repeat business to come in… everybody in the village is sick of it.”
Lauren Ridgway, a mother in her 40s, said it was “diabolical” that the road in the village, which she has called home for 12 years, was barely “car-worthy”.
She said: “It’s absolutely horrendous. It ’s been going on for years. What started off as a couple of potholes here and there is just a massive stretch now.”
She added: “You used to be able to weave around them. You can’t even do that anymore because the potholes are joined up, and they are quite deep.”
Another resident wrote on social media that they had counted 174 potholes on the road in question.
Another added: “I travelled into Burma in 2005 and the roads there were better than this one.
“Went to meet someone at t he Dusty Miller pub and honestly thought they’d been testing IEDS on the road.”
Councillor Craig Browne, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, said the council would carry out repairs in April.
He said: “Naturally, we are fully aware of the condition of Station Road in Wrenbury and agree that it requires resurfacing.
There will be a £600,000 scheme starting in April, which will significantly improve drainage to this location.
“The only alternative to waiting until April would be to resurface now at an additional cost of £65,000 only to have to do this again after the completion of the primary works.
He added: “All works need to be agreed in partnership with the E nv i r o n ment Agency and Network Rail.
“We apologise to residents and road users and assure them we are prioritising this work being carried out as safely and in as timely a way as possible.”
‘You used to be able to weave around them. You can’t even do that anymore because they are joined up’