Residents fear potholes may cause 'major accident'

Residents of a privately owned road near an NHS hospital in Surrey fear there will be a "major accident" if several potholes are not repaired.

Nicky Brownjohn, who has lived in Princes Road, Earlswood, for 41 years, said the "only way to be safe" was to drive very slowly.

"It is awful. Sometimes they have filled potholes, but then there's so much traffic that quickly the potholes come back," she added.

FirstPort, which manages the road on behalf of the estate developers, said it was committed to working with all parties involved to coordinate the full repair to the road surface.

According to Brownjohn, the road, which she described as a "vital pedestrian route" to East Surrey Hospital, began to deteriorate about seven years ago.

"I noticed there was a massive increase in traffic. A bus route had been in place for many years by that time," she said.

"I started to notice walking down here that cars and the buses were mounting the pavement."

Matt Leadbeater, who lives in a supported accommodation facility in Princes Road, said the local bus service no longer stops due to the "disrepair".

"It's terrible living on this road. We find it hard to get the bus. We have to go up to St John's Road," he said.

Gordon Frost, operations director at Metrobus, said: "Routes 430 and 435 are still in operation, however we have had to withdraw a section of the route linking to Earlswood Park due to unsafe road surfaces.

"The safety of our passengers and drivers is paramount, so until the issues have been rectified, we will not be able to operate on that stretch of road."

Leadbeater added that residents had told the owner of the road that it "isn't good enough".

"I do feel sorry for all the staff who come down here because it's absolutely terrible. It's just ruining their cars," he added.

A FirstPort spokesperson said: "A project of this scale will involve significant cost, and our priority is therefore to ensure that any costs are allocated fairly and in the best interests of homeowners at Royal Earlswood Park.

"Funding of the works is currently the subject of an ongoing legal review between relevant parties, which we are regularly updating our residents on."

FirstPort added that it had carried out "interim repairs" while the review was ongoing.

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