Bognor Regis potholes: “The trouble is, there’s so much wrong,”

“I reported (the pothole) about a year and a half ago. We got so fed up of waiting for the council to come and repair it, my husband filled it with sand and cement.”

Those were the words of Amanda, a Sunningdale Gardens resident who said a pothole at the end of her close has been causing problems for quite some time.

“People use the area to turn round, including delivery truck drivers and dustmen,” she added.

“So it’s just getting bigger. Homeowners’ car wheels will get damaged because sometimes you just can’t avoid it.”

Amanda isn’t the only one. A number of residents in Bognor Regis, Barnham and Felpham have reported problems with potholes in the area, despite the unveiling last year of a new West Sussex County Council system which allows residents to report potholes online.

“The public’s eyes and help in spotting and reporting concerns are really appreciated,” a county council officer told the Observer last year.

Arun district councillor Tony Dixon said he has had ‘decent results’ reporting potholes and other, similar, problems to West Sussex County Council but that a lot more could be done.

“The trouble is, there’s so much wrong. The potholes are everywhere,” he said.

“Half the time the council patch them up but don’t actually fix them properly so they don’t last.

Fellow Arun councillor Jeanette Warr agreed and pointed out a particular groove on the Rowan Way roundabout: “You’ve got people turning off there all the time and the more use the road is getting, the worse the groove gets,” she said.

A county council spokesperson said the ‘majority of repairs’ are now higher quality and longer lasting. In more serious cases where a full fix might be needed, however, a temporary repair might be the ‘best option’ until ‘the whole of the affected area can be patched or resurfaced’.