Daventry roads ridiculed by pothole 'Banksie' repaired

One of the protest placards put up by "Daventry Banksie" during the anti-pothole campaign

Road repairs have been carried out in a town that made national news thanks to a mystery pothole campaigner.

Anti-pothole placards have appeared in Daventry, where the anonymous protester responsible has become known as Daventry Banksie.

Now council contractors have been spotted at work there.

West Northamptonshire Council said it had fixed thousands of road defects in the last six months, but had needed better weather to start major repairs.

Contractors were seen at work in Abbey Street, close to Daventry town centre

It is more than a month since the placards - bearing slogans including "welcome to pothole city" - were first spotted. The campaign featured on TV news programmes and was talked about on national radio.

Now gangs of workers have been seen on Daventry's Abbey Street, which leads to the town centre, and on a stretch of the ring road close to the town's Marches industrial estate.

Daventry Banksie herself has commented on the latest development in the town's pothole saga. She said she had "mixed emotions" about the work.

She questioned why Abbey Street had been patched twice rather than resurfaced, and why the roundabout on The Marches had been resurfaced, but not the road leading from it into town.

Daventry Banksie has asked why some roads are just being patched in several places rather than resurfaced

She also wondered why one resurfacing scheme stopped just a few feet from "huge potholes".

Daventry Banksie said: "I think I speak for everyone when I say it would be nice to have a clear and concise plan of roadworks," she said, adding that the council needed to "give Daventry what it deserves".

In a statement last week, the council said it had received nearly 4,000 reports of road defects in the Daventry area in the last six months, and had repaired 2,500.

It added that it was "prioritising essential work alongside a comprehensive maintenance plan for the year" but "adverse weather conditions including record rainfall since October has hindered schedules".

The council has been asked to respond to the specific points raised by Daventry Banksie.