Opinion: Number of potholes in Suffolk is beyond a joke

The state of our roads across the county is beyond a joke and quite frankly unsafe. 

Just the other week I was travelling to Cavendish in my car and my experience dodging pothole after pothole brought me to despair. 

The stretch of road leading into the village felt like driving over a tank track. 

Potholes in Trimley (Image: Newsquest)

I understand the council is stretched but something really needs to be done to fix our roads for the safety of drivers. 

I totally understand that the council is stretched to its limits at the moment following the recent budget cuts but surely they should be prioritising the safety of road users across the county?

I also understand that just recently the weather has played a major part in the deterioration of our roads, but this problem hasn't just started.

It's been around for years and we are now paying the price for not dealing with it sooner. 

I fell victim to one of the thousands of potholes across the country in the summer which led to a hefty repair bill and me having to manage without my car for a number of days. I know I am not alone in this. 

And now, the rain that battered the county during Storm Henk has opened up even more potholes and the worst thing is that you cannot see a lot of them because they are covered up by flood water which makes driving feel like a pretty lethal experience. 

Often, in the countryside, you feel like you are driving through a slalom. 

While on the topic of flood water - this week has shown how badly we need our drains unblocked to allow surface water to run away. 

Now, I know the rain brought in by Storm Henk was unprecedented but have we not learnt anything from Storm Babet? 

Pretty much all the same roads that flooded in October last year were submerged under water again, some even more so than before. 

The lack of planning meant that a number of homes in Needham Market were flooded for a second time, leaving poor homeowners to pick up the pieces once more. 

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the state of roads where repairs have already been carried out.

I am no engineer but surely we can fix our roads to last longer than a couple of months before potholes start reappearing?

Windmill Hill in Long Melford potholes (Image: Newsquest)

Take Windmill Hill in Long Melford for example. The council closed the road for a number of nights early last year to fix a number of potholes. 

The road was descibed as the worst stretch of road in the area by a local councillor. 

But the potholes that were fixed are already starting to show again and it makes you ask what  we are fixing our roads with?

In May last year, Suffolk County Council announced plans to almost double Suffolk Highways' £11 million annual roads maintenance budget. 

Council leader Matthew Hicks said the state of some of our roads was "not good enough" but we have still not seen any change since then. 

If anything, our roads have got worse and it feels like they are falling apart. 

Don't get me wrong - Suffolk is not alone in this problem.

A few weeks before Christmas, I was drivng through Essex and the roads were just as bad. 

But something really needs to change soon and it needs to happen fast.