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The condition of back roads in Haverhill is 'an utter disgrace' a town councillor claimed last night (Tuesday).

Cllr Maureen Byrne told fellow members of Haverhill Town Council she was getting numerous complaints about holes and craters in the roads causing damage to vehicles.

She said she had first complained about the issue a year ago.

"Now, a yer on, the back roads are an utter disgrace," she said, and cited the case of a resident in Helions Park Gardens who had suffered damage to his car and been told by a garage it was due to bad road surfaces.

However, Suffolk County Council, who are responsible for the upkeep of roads, would not accept any responsibility for damage unless they were given a specific date and time and the pothole was deep enough.

"They will not take into account wear and tear over a period of time," she said.

"I am very frustrated because the council has had Government money and put it into reserves instead of using it. They only left £1m for road repairs this year and it is not enough.

"Mill Hill was filled last year and now it is all out again. We must get someone from the county council here to be accountable for this."

Cllr Margaret Marks said she had heard garages in the area were now talking about cars being damaged by potholes and sleeping policemen.

Town clerk Gordon Mussett said he knew what the county council's response would be. "They will say they could spend a lot more on the roads in Haverhill if they didn't have to keep spending so much money on mending pavements in the high street where people insist on parking."

Members agreed that photographic evidence of potholes should be collected and pressure put on the county council highways department to carry out repairs.

Mermbers had heard earlier from town centre manager Tina Hanks that work would soon be resuming on a very bad section of Lordscroft Lane, left over after the Tesco road re-alignment.

Work had had to stop on tjis section because of health and safety concerns due to overhead cables, but theese had now been overcome.

The work would be done quite soon because they had no other work in the area lined up.

* Our picture shows one of many potholes in Helions Park Avenue.