End of the road for Daventry 'Banksie' pothole campaigner

The first sign suggested Daventry had been twinned with the Grand Canyon

A woman who put up signs around a pothole-plagued town has said she is stepping back from the campaign.

Daventry Banksie, who has remained anonymous, said she had achieved what she wanted because some road repairs had started.

The campaign was featured in local and national media, from the Jeremy Vine show to ITV News.

Banksie said she hoped other people would build on her work and hold the local council to account.

She said she also believed many people assumed a man was putting out the signs and women had told her they felt "empowered" when they discovered she was behind the campaign.

Banksie started her road sign protest in March, using the cover of darkness to attach wooden placards to signage on roundabouts and verges.

One welcomed drivers to "Pot Hole City - twinned with Grand Canyon" and another named a roundabout "Pot Holy Island".

A new sign appeared in response to the removal of previous messages

The signs were removed a few days later, apparently by the Conservative-controlled West Northamptonshire Council, but more placards followed and the story was covered on television, radio and in newspapers.

This week, workers from the council's contractors, Kier, were in Daventry fixing some of the potholes.

Daventry Banksie told the BBC she was bringing her campaign to an end because "I think I achieved what I set out to achieve - to get the council to listen".

"Work has started so I felt that we now have got to give them a chance to get on and do the work," she added.

Daventry Banksie put up a new sign thanking people for their support as she ended her own involvement in the campaign

The campaign even inspired a pothole pastry, sold in Daventry, with a chocolate tyre in a crumbled biscuit road

She said that councils had been instructed by central government to be more open and accountable, and she would "like to think I set Daventry on that path, showing people that it's not that difficult to ask questions".

She has not ruled out a return to the battlefield if repairs are not completed.

• The pothole signs that put a town in the spotlight

• Council posts song lyric response to pothole signs

• Roads ridiculed by pothole 'Banksie' repaired

Daventry Banksie described the public's response as "absolutely fantastic - I can't thank them enough".

"It just goes to show that you achieve more if there's more of you."

West Northamptonshire Council posted its own mocked-up image of a roadsign responding to the campaign

West Northamptonshire Council said that where more road faults were identified "we will try and incorporate these into future schemes or raise additional minor works to be carried out at a later date".

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