Shropshire road's potholes like deep trenches, says councillor

Councillor Heather Kidd said the road at Marton Hill has become virtually unusable

The state of one Shropshire road is so bad, it may have the county's biggest potholes, a councillor has suggested.

The holes on the road at Marton Hill are more like deep trenches, and it should be closed because of the danger, said Heather Kidd.

Vehicles are getting stuck and damaged, as it is not possible to avoid the potholes, which are the worst she has seen since being elected in 2009.

Shropshire Council said the road would be repaired on 1 February.

"We've got to the point now where people can't get in and out easily," said Ms Kidd, who conceded it was not a major route, but one that is still well used.

The road on the Shropshire-Wales border heads towards Welshpool in one direction, and the B4386 towards Shrewsbury in the other.

"I've been the unitary councillor since 2009, and I have never seen a road as bad as this, and I have some bad roads," said the Liberal Democrat councillor, who represents Chirbury and Worthen.

Locals have been really upset after regularly reporting the problem, Heather Kidd said

Local residents were "really upset" as many had been reporting the issue regularly, she said, and it had first been flagged with the council in September.

Shropshire Council said highways officers visited the site on 17 November, after concerns were first raised.

It had asked its contractor to undertake an edge-of-carriageway repair, to fill a "lengthy overrun on one side of the road", which has been scheduled for 1 February.

Since the site visit, and following the very wet weather, the council said, it appeared agricultural vehicles may have ridden on the verge area and caused a "significant erosion" of the verge opposite the area identified for repair.

As the road was in a very rural location with low traffic volumes, closing it may cause issues on the surrounding network, many of which are in a neighbouring council area, it added.