TODAY Councillor Ingall, Labour leader of Harlow Council took the first steps in a legal process designed to force Essex County Council to repair Harlow’s roads.

Shocked by the appalling condition of the road surface of Hookfield and Minchin Road, Cllr Ingall reported them to Essex County Council via their website. Cllr Ingall said, “Within minutes of me sending in the report to the Essex Highways website I had an email back saying they had been reported before, and no action was planned to repair them.

“It is ridiculous that roads this bad are not being repaired by Essex County Council, they are a danger to pedestrians crossing the road, they are a danger to cyclists and motorbike users and they cause damage to cars.

“When I received the email from Essex saying the potholes were not going to be fixed, I took legal advice from “Mr Pothole” who has recently secured repairs to roads in Northamptonshire by taking recourse to legal action.

“Acting on his advice I wrote the letter below (and working with Councillor Lanie Shears of Markhall ward a similar one about Minchin Road) as the first step in a process that could land Essex County Council in court if they fail to make good these roads.

“If I am successful in this process then I intend to repeat it for other poorly maintained parts of our road and cycle track infrastructure.

“Essex take the vast majority of the Council tax paid by Harlow residents and they underspent on road maintenance by £1 million last year, they have no excuse not to meet their legal responsibility to maintain our roads.”