Anxious residents living on a road with 'disgusting' potholes have called for the road to be resurfaced 'like they do in Sweden'. Greendale Road, Arnold, is currently "littered" with potholes, with some neighbours partly blaming years of wear and tear from delivery and carrier lorries that often drive up and down the road.
Local residents say that potholes are often fixed, but can "cave in" after being driven over. Neighbours are now calling for the road to be resurfaced, and one neighbour had her own idea on how to do that.
Back in early 2020, in Sweden, researchers trialled rubber surfaces made out of recycled car tyres for footways and cycle paths. It was said then that the shock-absorbing properties of the material could prevent serious injuries.
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Lancashire County Council also trialled the new technique for the first time, in April 2022. And people in Arnold suggested similar measures for Greendale Road.
Jackie Cary, 72, who is retired and lives on a road nearby, said: "Oh God they're [the potholes] awful. My husband, he still drives, he goes mad about them all the time - he's always moaning about them.
"It needs resurfacing. I've always thought they should look at what Sweden do. In Sweden they use old recycled car tyres to resurface roads and the footpaths - I think that's a really good idea. I don't understand why they don't look at them.
"Cars are fairly slow coming up and down the road, there's no issue with speeding. But there are just so many. Potholes do get tarmacked over but then we have a lot of big, heavy lorries on the roads. And removals as well.
"They're very heavy and it takes a toll on the road. And then they drive over old potholes. It can't take long for them to cave in again."
Retired 65-year-old Steve Wiseman, who lives on the road, said: "They're disgusting. I think it's one of the worst boroughs for potholes. Well people have been down repairing them on-and-off and they pick out the very worst ones. Some were done the other day.
"But you can definitely feel it sometimes when you're driving. You can feel yourself bumping about. I have no way of measuring exactly how bad it is but it's definitely concerning. It's OK working over it but it doesn't stay fixed for long.
"What it needs is resurfacing, but then so many roads around here do. Gedling and Arnold in particular are some of the worst you'll see."
Daniel Bell, 44, who lives on the road, said: "Driving can get quite bumpy at times. Obviously no one tends to drive too quickly on the road because it's residential, quiet.
"But also there's a bit of fear there, for me anyway, because of how bumpy it can be. The last thing you want is a flat tyre. Some of them are fixed from time-to-time but it's littered with big and small holes."
It comes after Nottinghamshire County Council officials said reports of potholes across the county had 'almost doubled' between December and January due to the bad weather.
The council says the sub-zero temperatures in December, salt used to grit roads and recent heavy rainfall caused the spike in pothole reports. It follows the authority recently reporting drastically-improved statistics on the state of the county’s roads.
It came after a cross-party review conducted in 2021 found the council should move away from the temporary asphalt repair method ‘Viafix’. The new focus is on more permanent road replacement schemes and to shift towards a “right repair, right-first-time” approach.
Data published last month showed the use of ‘Viafix’ reduced by 61 percent following the review, with the number of ‘patching gangs’ doubled from four to eight in a £15m investment last April.
And Councillor Ben Bradley (Con), the council’s leader and Mansfield’s MP, said the programme was “going really well” until recent weather conditions. He said teams were working 24/7 to “tackle and keep up with it” but stressed bad road conditions are a national issue. "Frustratingly, our roads programme was going really well until the weather hit and ripped chunks out of the roads,” he said.
“The feedback and the data had been excellent, and we will get back to that once we’ve finished firefighting the damage caused over the past couple of weeks. The roads are bad at the minute and, unfortunately, I can’t control the weather or the quality of work done long before I was here.
“But the key point I’ve been making is that we have put the investment in, teams are working 24/7 trying to tackle it and keep up with it, and this genuinely is a national issue. We’re not unique – one in three roads across the country need resurfacing nationally so we’re all in the same boat.”
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