Anger from villagers over the state of road

A community leader has expressed his anger over the state of a village road.

For months, people have been complaining about the state of The Street in Foxearth, just outside Long Melford.

Richard Kemp, who is a county councillor for Long Melford, but not Foxearth, said he has received a couple of pictures and complaints about the state of the road.

"People think it is an area I cover, but it is not," Mr Kemp said.

The pothole has got bigger since October 2023 (Image: Newsquest)

However Mr Kemp said he would be "totally enraged" if he was a resident of the village.

"I think the residents are entitled to a better service.

"Local governments have got to get their acts together."

Drivers have reported that they have had to take action and drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid the pothole.

The potholes were first reported in October 2023 when Mark Posen, then chairman of the Foxearth and Liston Parish Council, described the road as "terrible".

He said: "The surface of the road is unacceptable. They did some patching work from the Rodbridge road, that has now been filled in but they did not continue through the village."

Mr Posen said he thought the problem was caused by people using the village as a cut through, making the road surface worse.

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: “In order to maximise our limited resources, we have to address the most urgent issues first, however all defects reported to us are assessed by an inspector.

“We greatly appreciate residents' patience and encourage them to track any issues reported to us via our online ‘Track It’ tool, where anyone can sign up to receive repair updates or tell us about something new."

Members of Essex County Council who cover Foxearth were contacted for comment.