A man became so exasperated with the way his council has dealt with the "disgraceful" potholes causing havoc on his otherwise "lovely" local high street that he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Part-time gardener Ben Thornbury, of Malmesbury, is dismayed by the number of potholes on Malmesbury High Street, which he says have left residents enraged for months.
On Thursday, April 7, Ben, 18, finally decided to take action, setting up a "crazy pothole golf" course on the high street in a bid to grab Wiltshire Council's attention once and for all in a "creative" and "humorous" way.
A sign welcoming golfers to the 'course', reads: "Wiltshire Council, you're a disgrace. Fix the potholes. High street crazy potholes golf now open."
Speaking with the Mirror, Ben said: "Potholes have been an issue for months and months now. People have been injured on the high street as was mentioned during a meeting which the council held!
"Also, flying stones from the road. A resident was out picking up the larger stones as one had hit a shop window."
According to Ben, Malmesbury is "a lovely town", with an "amazing" and "supportive" community. The high street boasts a number of charity shops, and small independent businesses, plus environment-friendly shops such as Renew Malmesbury.
Filled with history, Malmesbury High Street also has the Market Cross - described by Ben as a "statement piece of the town" - as well as the breathtaking Malmesbury Abbey. Unfortunately, Ben believes the state of the potholes could be putting off visitors.
According to Ben: "The high street would be so much better without the potholes! Because not only is it not creating a good impression for the town, it's damaging the residents' and tourists' vehicles. We have a lot of visitors as Malmesbury is one of the oldest boroughs in England."
Although Ben says Malmesbury Town Council has been "brilliant", with councillors there very much wanting the potholes fixed too, he's been less than impressed by Wiltshire Council, which he claims has been "less helpful".
Ben continued: "All they've really said is that they are going to create heat maps of areas around Wiltshire where potholes are a bad problem, and they have just said some figures of how much they are putting into pothole repairs!
"I have heard from a local shopkeeper that they have begun taking measurements and they plan to resurface the road, although Wiltshire Council hasn't confirmed this!"
Having seen enough residents' comments about the potholes, with a number of people fearing for pedestrians' safety, Ben decided to take action.
Ben, who has been involved in town community projects from a young age, explained: "I came up with the idea for pothole crazy golf because I saw a resident post an image on the comment section of a pothole post, I thought it was brilliant and I just had to make it happen in real life!"
His campaign has since prompted a "brilliant response" from residents, with one post on a local Facebook page clocking up more than 700 impressions.
Ben has now set up the Facebook group Crazy Pothole Golf UK, which he says counts prominent pothole campaigner 'Mr Pothole' among its followers.
Some have even urged Ben to take his campaign on the road, "playing golf in all the potholes" across the country. He thinks this would be a "great idea".
Wiltshire Council is reportedly aware of the tongue-in-cheek golf course. In an email seen by the Mirror, the council told Ben they'd "been working hard to tackle the issue", and that the Department for Transport's Pothole Fund had recently awarded it £3.6 million to use to target hotspots.
The council clarified that priority is given to "deeper potholes which require more urgent attention", adding that it also has a "program of resurfacing that is based around information provided by our technical surveys."
Cllr Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport, told the Mirror: "There has been an increase in the number of potholes across the country, not just in Wiltshire.
"The combination of a long dry summer followed by periods of very wet and then freezing conditions, has seen road surfaces deteriorate, in some cases very quickly.
"Malmesbury High Street is, unfortunately, an example of this. It was surveyed in 2022 and found to be sound but reports from residents and businesses this year, and a site visit this week, illustrate the rapidly deteriorating conditions."
She continued: "We have recently been awarded an additional £3.6m from the Department for Transport's (DfT’s) Pothole Fund and are currently looking at when works can be scheduled to undertake the repairs required in Malmesbury.
"The extra funding will support the hard work undertaken this winter to tackle the huge increase in potholes across the county. In January, we saw a four-fold increase in pothole reports compared with December, and over the 22/23 financial year spent 50 per cent more on repairs than budgeted, based on past experience.
"We would advise those concerned to please report highway defects and potholes to us using MyWilts – either through our website or by using the smartphone app."
The Mirror has reached out to Malmesbury Town Council for comment.
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