A mystery artist has drawn around potholes in a York village to warn drivers about their dangers.
Furious Strensall residents say potholes in Middlecroft Drive are getting worse and called on City of York Council to fix them.
But the council’s Labour transport boss said more government investment is needed to reverse the “decline in our roads”.
Messages – including “joke” and “road tax?” – accompany the yellow circles drawn around the potholes.
A Strensall resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Press they saw the graffiti on Thursday night (May 2) while walking their dog and took photographs of it because it “amused” them.
“Strensall (like a lot of York) is getting worse and worse for potholes and the local authorities, councils and councillors aren’t doing anything to help local residents. And it looks as though (the artist) is now taking matters into their own hands to raise awareness,” they said.
“The road where I took the pictures is a very busy road, has school buses and school traffic and users of the road have no choice but to drive on opposite sides of the road to avoid damage to their cars.”
Cllr Tony Fisher, the Liberal Democrat’s Strensall ward councillor, told The Press he “inspected the potholes concerned” on Friday (May 3) and found that “none are actually deep enough to meet the council’s criteria for being filled as none are 40mm deep”.
But he added that the “problems in Middlecroft Drive go far beyond merely filling potholes”.
“The deterioration in the whole road surface justifies the affected section being fully resurfaced. Whilst ward councillors have no control over which roads get treated, we will continue to press for this to be done as soon as possible.”
He said the Liberal Democrats proposed a motion in July 2023 that the minimum depth for a pothole to be repaired should be reduced from 40mm to 30mm, which “would have made the potholes on Middlecroft Drive eligible to be filled”.
“The controlling Labour group voted against this motion so it was not adopted.”
Cllr Fisher added that the Labour council has “cut £1 million from ward highways funding”.
“This was money delegated to ward councillors to spend on priority highway schemes in their ward.”
He said the section of Middlecroft Drive photographed was one that he and fellow Liberal Democrat ward councillor Paul Healey had on their “priority list for treatment”.
But he said “the loss of the £1 million means we can’t do it”, adding: “The Liberal Democrat budget for 2024 to 2025 proposed to restore this £1 million, but Labour opposed it (and the Conservatives abstained).”
More government investment needed to 'reverse decline in our roads' - council's transport boss
Cllr Pete Kilbane, Labour’s executive member for transport, told The Press: “What we need is a Labour government that’s prepared to start investing in our councils and our communities once again.
“That’s really our only hope of reversing the decline in our roads.”
Responding to Cllr Fisher’s comments, he said: “Liberal Democrat councillors are being disingenuous about potholes, with road standards declining significantly over eight years of them running York council.
“The reality, as they know, is that austerity and huge real terms funding reductions to councils over 14 years have left the country’s roads in a disastrous state.
“But because their party was an original architect of austerity, they’re unwilling to focus on where the blame really sits – with the government.
“Suggesting the council fill potholes at 30mm when it doesn’t have the money to fill them at 40mm is typical Lib Dem politics and totally undeliverable.”
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