CORNWALL Council’s vice-chairman says he’s fed up with the state of the roads in St Austell.

Cllr Jordan Rowse has stated that he has never seen so many potholes.

The Conservative councillor, who represents Bethel and Holmbush in the town, took to Facebook, saying: “I am pretty fed up with the state of the roads in St Austell at the minute. I have never seen so many potholes.

“I understand the weather has been shockingly wet which does not help, but even so the state of the roads is the number one issue in my inbox right now.

“I have escalated my concerns to the person in charge of our roads at Cornwall Council and the leader of Cornwall Council.

“We need action now and we need Cormac to get on top of the backlog.

“To all those of you who are raising concerns with me about the state of the roads – I hear you loud and clear. I am equally as frustrated.”

He said Trenowah Road and the roads around Bethel were particularly bad and asked to be notified about any other roads with potholes or poor road surfaces and he would add them “to my ever-growing list”.

“You pay your council tax, so the roads you drive on should be maintained. I keep saying it, but we’ve got to get the basics right,” said the councillor.

Cornwall Council received an additional £5-million from central government last year specifically to tackle potholes and the local authority also announced an uplift of £9.1-million of capital funding for road improvements, including resurfacing.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “The council invests around £40-million a year in maintaining and improving Cornwall’s 7,250 kilometres (4,530 miles) road network, which ranges from busy A roads to narrow rural roads, and we operate a robust inspection and repair regime.

“We carry out safety inspections on a regular basis on our entire highway network. Resources are prioritised to fix potholes that have formed due to the recent very wet weather and when there is a cold snap.

“However, potholes can develop in a very short space of time. It is possible that one can appear between inspections and so we are not aware of it. This is why we appreciate motorists reporting them.

“If anyone spots a pothole, we’re asking them to please report it using the easy-to-use digital defect reporting system. We will then keep them updated on progress.

“Between January and December last year we repaired 35,071 potholes across the highway network.

“Over 98 per cent of the worst potholes are fixed within 48 hours.”

People can report any potholes they see on the council website: www.cornwall.gov.uk/reportit