Political opinion with Alison Bennett MP: Let's talk about potholes

Driving around Mid Sussex, it's clear that our roads and lanes are in poor condition. My inbox bears this out, with many of you agreeing that potholes are a daily hazard that make journeys unpleasant and often dangerous.

One constituent told me that during a recent rainy dog walk, a car hit a water-filled pothole at speed, spraying them with filthy water and small pieces of broken road surface. Someone else had their tyre burst by a pothole, which cost them £120 to replace. Although West Sussex County Council acknowledged that it was aware of this pothole and repaired it, they rejected the claim because the inspection time limit had technically been reached. This person had to pay out of pocket for something that was not their fault.

The Conservatives who run West Sussex County Council are responsible for the maintenance of our highways, and our Council Tax is meant to pay for our roads to be in good condition. Our local area, like many others across the country, is seeing significant new housing, yet road maintenance has not kept pace. People are rightly questioning how our roads in their current state will cope with thousands more vehicles. We need more houses so that our young people have a chance of getting a place of their own, but much like our water system, we need to know that we have the infrastructure to support them too.

Under the former Conservative government, our transport system was neglected and our road system left to crumble. As a constituent said to me recently “our roads are dangerous, simply because they are not being looked after properly”. This is why the Lib Dems campaigned in the general election for funding to fix 1.2 million potholes every year, and for long-term investment to stop the endless cycle of patch and repair.

As I said in Parliament earlier this month, “banging on about potholes is sometimes described as being peak Lib Dem”. But this is an issue that comes up time and again when I speak to residents, and it matters to people. So, I will keep being “peak Lib Dem,” and fight for us to have roads that are to the standard we deserve.