Villagers fear being cut off due to huge pothole

Villagers believe the damage to the road is Wiltshire's biggest pothole

Residents of a village fear they could be completely cut off from the road network if the council does not speed up repairs to a vast pothole.

One of only two routes into Charlton-All-Saints near Salisbury, Wiltshire, is almost impassable due to the crumbling road surface.

Wiltshire council said full repairs could only take place once the ground had dried out.

"If this was seeing a 1,000 cars a day it would have been sorted out," said resident Vince Jenkins.

Vince Jenkins (R) said the pothole had "grown significantly"

Temporary work is expected to start on the pothole within the next 24 hours, depending on the weather.

Once the water drains, "then they will be going in to do a more significant repair", said Richard Clewer, the Conservative leader of Wiltshire Council.

But he warned this may not be for a while.

Mr Jenkins, 64, and another resident, David Bennett, 76, said they had measured the pothole at 12.5m long and 2.5m wide.

"We think it's Wiltshire's biggest pothole," said Mr Bennett, who has lived in the village for 10 years.

"The drainage needs to be fixed and it needs to be soon rather than later.

"This is effectively out of bounds to villagers at the minute," added Mr Jenkins.

He said it meant the volume of traffic had doubled on nearby Church Road, which also has potholes.

Residents have measured the pothole as 20cm deep, 12.5m long and 2.5m wide

Villagers say the water on the road has not drained fully for several months.

David Canty, the estate manager of Longford Estate, which is responsible for draining the nearby land it owns, said the field drain had been running all year, but the ground was "saturated".

"It is the sheer volume of water that we have had that means the water has no where to go. "

"Our understanding is that Wiltshire Council have scheduled the work to be completed and will do so very shortly."

The road is completely impassable due to the pothole

Mr Jenkins explained the pothole had been there for about two years.

"This area gets flooded and as a result of that things have actually got much worse."

He said there had been some temporary repairs.

"I want the council to do this once and have it done and dusted.

"What we don't want is for them to have to come back in another couple of years and do the same job."

Mr Bennett said: "In the course of this last winter, the potholes have grown.

"We've been in flood here since October until the end of April."

He said until the ditches and runoff are cleared it will be "an ongoing problem".

Mr Jenkins said he reported the pothole "several times" over the winter.

"There really are limits as to what you can do with the volume of rain we're getting at the moment," said Richard Clewer

The council leader agreed the pothole would likely have been dealt with more quickly if it were on an urban road because of "safety issues".

But he said the wettest winter on record had resulted in significant flooding in eastern Wiltshire.

"The water table has been literally up to the pretty much the top of the soil. It is finally falling.

"It's down a few inches. If it keeps falling we will be able to get in and and start clearing."

Mr Clewer added: "It's been a very difficult and very frustrating time."