The council has spent thousands of pounds resurfacing their Oxford car park despite a multitude of deep potholes causing bother for drivers across the county.
Oxfordshire County Council has spent between £14,000 and £15,000 repairing their county hall carpark on New Road.
A council spokesman said the car park had “not been resurfaced for several decades” and the work was in response to a “routine health and safety inspection”.
READ MORE: Oxford traffic filters concerns raised by Conservative MPs
The money has been spent on resurfacing the car park and repainting the bays.
Shadow cabinet member for highways Liam Walker told the Oxford Mail he believed residents would feel “frustrated” as the council’s “focus” should be on fixing potholes instead.
He said: “I think residents will be frustrated as to why the car park outside county hall has been resurfaced whilst roads across Oxfordshire best resemble the surface of the moon in places.
“It’s yet again clear that the coalition’s focus is in the wrong place and whilst they continue to plead with the government all the time for money, they waste funds on projects like this, which could have fixed nearly 300 potholes instead.”
This news comes after a cyclist recently told the Oxford Mail that potholes in Didcot had become a "potential danger" to road users.
Tim Masters, of York Road in Didcot, wrote to Oxfordshire County Council to report potholes which he believed were dangerous.
He said: "The state of the roads around the Hagbournes near Didcot is atrocious.
"I'm a cyclist and motorist. I use these roads almost every day.
“The most serious pothole is on Brook Lane, close to the junction with Park Road and Main Road in Coscote.
“The pothole is so deep I can park my bike in it. In my opinion this pothole is a potential danger to life.
“The stretch of Park Road surrounded by open fields between Didcot and the Hagbournes is in a disgraceful state - especially for cyclists."
Recently, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, allocated £3,706,000 to Oxfordshire to fit potholes in Oxfordshire.
The Oxfordshire package is part of a £200 million pound package to fix potholes across the UK.
READ MORE: Oxfordshire Conservative councillor blasts council tax
An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said: “The intention of the car park is that it is used by visitors to County Hall, by people with accessibility needs, by contractors and by staff requiring a space for particular one-off work reasons.
“It can also be used by visiting tradespeople.
"The council has widened the accessible parking bays and allocated larger parking bays for contractors vehicles.
“As such there are now therefore less car park spaces overall.
“The council encourages everyone visiting County Hall to travel by public transport if at all possible and use of the car park for staff is limited to being for exceptional reasons as described.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel