ACCORDING to Baroness Scott, in claiming so much success with all the services that Wiltshire Council is lumbered with, we should rely on her track record, a part of which is investing in our roads. 
Well, she is doing well because so many of our roads can only be described as tracks. The condition of most of our roads around Pewsey are truly shocking, not least the stretch of the A345 between here and Marlborough which has had no maintenance or resurfacing of any note for at least the last four years. 
It seems that all we can hope for is the temporary repair of potholes with a blob of bitumastic material, presumably only after diligent motorists have reported them after their car’s suspension has been almost wrecked by driving over them. And I imagine that cyclists have to be particularly alert in spotting them.
So where the extra £20m in the highways budget has gone is a bit of a mystery to say the least. 
Renewing white lines has gone for a ball of chalk and replacing cats’ eyes – well we can forget them as well.
Even yellow lines are disappearing through wear to the extent that they are no longer continuous as required in the regulations and therefore, strictly speaking, prohibiting parking where they are supposed to be cannot be enforced. Unfortunately, council finances are being squeezed by central government which is becoming more desperate by the day to steal money off us as the national debt heads towards £2 trillion.
The HS2 project is already gobbling up money with a projected cost of £50bn; how about cancelling that and putting the money towards revitalising all the country’s roads? 
Because it’s not just this county that is suffering.
ROWLAND PANTLING
Broomcroft Road
Pewsey