DOG walker Des Burnett has accused Wiltshire Council of wasting council taxpayers’ money by doing shoddy work on potholes.


Retired engineer Mr Burnett, 68, uses Conscience Lane, Rowde, near Devizes several times a week to take his dogs to walk on Roundway Hill.


He had noticed the road deteriorating and was pleased when signs went up saying it was to be resurfaced.
But after a closure of more than a week in November he spotted that many potholes quickly reappeared.
He said: “The works will have cost Wiltshire rate payers a considerable amount but the quality of the resurfacing is appalling.


“In less than six weeks there are countless potholes, some are several feet wide and very deep.”
Mr Burnett, who lives in Melksham, takes his springer spaniels Zac and Ollie to the paths at the top of Roundway Hill three or four times a week.

He said: “The parts of the road where they did a proper resurfacing job are still fine but the places where they just used gravel to fill the holes has been a waste of time.
“The gravel has just washed away. I have counted 18 potholes within the resurfaced stretch. I don’t see the point in carrying out the work if it is going to last such a short space of time. 
“Some serious questions need asking of Wiltshire Council regarding the cost of this work and the unacceptable state after just six weeks.”

Cllr Bridget Wayman, cabinet member for highways, said: “We spend around £20m per year on major maintenance, including resurfacing and was allocated £7.3m from the Government’s pothole fund. The wet weather and cold temperatures at this time of year plays havoc with the roads and our team works hard to ensure people have as smooth a journey as possible. 
“We are in contact with our contractors to address the issues that have been caused by the bad weather. Although the method they used is a tried and tested method of remediation, the wet weather and poor drainage meant the specific standards were not achieved. The contractor has been on site since and carried out some further work however we will monitor it over the winter period and return in the summer to carry out major works.”
“We apologise that Mr Burnett didn’t get any response to his enquiry on this occasion. The best route to report issues is via the MyWiltshire reporting system which ensures our team will investigate as soon as possible. We had previously responded to Mr Burnett re the pothole although this was some time after his initial call.”