Hitchin Road Rage

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Nigel Quinton has joined Cllr Lawrence Oliver in Highbury ward to carry out an extensive review of public opinion in the the Ward. Over one thousand households were contacted to assess their opinion of the state of the roads in Hitchin.

Nigel explained: "We have recently had confirmation in a council report that it is costing £12,643 per km per year compared to the £6,971 which is the 'family average' of similar authorities. Unbelievable! We felt we ought to see what people thought about how this money was spent."

With close to 150 replies received already, the results are very clear - Hitchin is not impressed!

• 88% dissatisfied were with road maintenance (of which 44% very dissatisfied)

• 70% were dissatisfied with the gritting this winter

• 82% were aware of roads that they felt were unsafe due to the poor road surface

• A quarter of those responding indicted they had suffered damage to their vehicle

• 15% of respondents had made a complaint. Only 50% of those were satisfied with the outcome.

Councillor Lawrence Oliver said:

"The results of our survey are not that surprising; all winter long Councillors have been receiving complaints about the conditions of the roads. The Conservative County Council was obviously unprepared for the Winter, despite the experience last year. Let us hope that this time lessons have been learned, and that when we report these results to Herts Highways they take residents' views seriously."