Pothole Watch: North Yorkshire County Council responds to concerns over surface of Green Lane in Scarborough

Over the past week the same road has been brought up again and again by readers - Green Lane in Newby.

He said: “I don’t understand North Yorkshire County Council’s resistance.

“I’ve been a county councillor since 2005 and over that time parish, borough and myself as county councillor have tried to champion Green Lane but to no avail.

“It is dereliction of duty from the county council.”

The road, which joins Cross Lane to Scalby Road, is a busy thoroughfare, a bus route and is close to Scalby School.

Over the years patches have been laid to fix surface issues rather than resurfacing the road.

Clive Robert, a resident, used to use the road often but now tries to avoid it as he believes it to be unsafe.

He said: “[It] is absolutely appalling.

“It’s been patched so many times it’s all lumpy and bumpy.

“Lack of capital is an issue and I appreciate that but the roads have to be safe.

“We are fed up of it.”

In the past month eight smaller roads that join Green Lane have undergone a programme of surface dressing, which involves spraying bitumen, a sticky tar-like substance on the road surface before spreading stone chippings on top.

Cllr Backhouse said: “Priorities seem to be all skew whiff.

“The residents, and I, don’t see the merits of spending however much this is costing over spending the equivalent money on Green Lane.”

Barrie Mason, assistant director of highways and transportation at the county council, said: “Where possible, we seek to use lower-cost preventative measures such as surface dressing to target roads where such treatment can extend their lifespan, as with the minor roads off Green Lane.

“Often a small amount of patching is needed before surface dressing to deal with minor defects.”

In an email dated June 6, Cllr Backhouse formally requested that Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access and Richard Marr, area manager for highways and transportation, attend a walk and drive over of Green Lane for them to see the state of the road.

He has yet to receive a response but believes the only solution would be to completely resurface the road.

He said: “It wants shutting down for three weeks, ripping up and completely resurfacing.”

We asked North Yorkshire County Council if they were planning to make any improvements to the surface of Green Lane.

Barrie Mason said: “We recognise the concerns being expressed about the condition of Green Lane.

“We are reviewing our budgets to see whether we can add Green Lane to our programme of highway schemes.

“The carriageway there would require resurfacing at an estimated cost of more than £200,000. In the meantime, our engineers are making regular visits to ensure that Green Lane remains safe.”