Group blocks road as part of pothole protest

Protesters blockaded a section of Old Bridge Way in Shefford for an hour

Protesters have called on a local council to fix potholes on a section of a road which no-one officially owns.

A group of 75 campaigners blocked Old Bridge Way in Shefford, Bedfordshire, for an hour this week, although motorists were still able to access a supermarket and businesses.

The town's mayor, Nicola King, described the potholes as "huge and causing problems with cars", and added there was potential for young people crossing the road to "fall into the potholes".

John Baker, executive member for highways for Central Bedfordshire Council, said: "Last October we completed maintenance work to resurface the section of Old Bridge Way that is under our ownership and responsibility."

Councillor John Baker has called on the Labour MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern, to approach the former owners of the road to contribute to fixing it

Part of Old Bridge Way is owned and maintained by the independently run local authority, but a large section has been ownerless since the company previously responsible for it - Freshfield Planning Ltd - went into liquidation in March 2024.

By law, that means the road is subject to the unusual escheat legal process, whereby The Crown Estate deals with the land.

Baker added: "We acknowledge concerns about the condition of the remaining sections of Old Bridge Way. However, this portion is not an adopted public highway, so does not fall under our management or jurisdiction."

The Crown Estate declined to comment, while the former owners of the section of road have been approached by the BBC.

The Mayor of Shefford, Nicola King, said she was very optimistic that the road would be fixed one day

During the protest, young people in high-viz jackets played golf on the road to highlight the size of some of the potholes, and one campaign sign suggested Shefford should be twinned with Bedrock from The Flintstones TV show or the Grand Canyon, because of the state of Old Bridge Way.

Cars and vans were forced to turn back during the blockade, but Ms King, said: "We had a lot of people turning up, getting up, standing for sorting this road out."

She added she was "very optimistic" the road would be fixed eventually, but felt campaigners had to keep the state of the road in the spotlight or "it gets put to the bottom of the pile and pushed to the side".

The Labour MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern, was part of the protest and wants Central Bedfordshire Council to fix the road, even though they do not own it

The Labour MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern, joined the protest and said: "For far too long, this road has been allowed to decline, and we have got to draw the line a bit and get it fixed."

He said the council had spent "a lot more time explaining why it should not be their problem to help solve, rather than trying to work with us on possible solutions".

However, Baker said Strathern should be pushing the former owners of the section of road to contribute, and that the MP wanted taxpayers "to pick up the tab instead of doing his job and taking this matter up with the relevant Government department".

He added: "The public record shows that a considerable amount of land was transferred from Daniels Bros (Shefford) Limited to a shell company, Freshfield Planning Limited, in a short space of time.

"The public record also shows that Freshfield was swiftly liquidated, sending the roads into oblivion, remaining unadopted by the council."

But Strathern argued that "the door had been long left ajar in terms of extracting money from the previous owners", but added he would be "willing to work with the authority to try and find a way to make that possible".