COUNTY Highways contractor Ringway is “failing” residents, a politician has claimed.

Lib Dem councillor Malcolm Cowan said the firm had left roads littered with potholes and gravel.

Cllr Cowan pointed to the example of Ayot Green Road, in WGC, where he collected a huge handful of rubble from the road surface.

He said: “Several months ago I reported the start of Ayot Green Road, over the motorway, as needing resurfacing due to the vast number of potholes.

“Instead, and after a long delay, Ringway have applied patches to the worst of the holes.

“Many of the smaller holes have been missed, the road looks like it has got chicken pox due to the number of patches, and perhaps worst of all, they failed to sweep up the vast amount of stones that had been unearthed from the potholes.”

He added: “These stones could be lethal if a car or lorry caught them and sent them flying.

“I got Ringway to promise to pick up loose stones and gravel when they carried out work, at a recent Highways and Transport meeting at County Hall, but they have either forgotten or decided not to bother.

“I am appalled and will be reminding them of their promise.

“Clearly there is a lack of supervision and monitoring of their work, which is just not good enough.”

Yesterday, Matthew Kelley, Ringway’s divisional manager, said work had been done on the stretch of road in February and again this month.

He added: “Due to the volume of aggregate that has collected out of the traffic lanes from the deteriorating road surface, we have asked the sweeping crew to clean the entire bridge of any loose material which will be completed from today as programmed.”