How dangerous is this?

I've been critical of the Conservative Council's abysmal failure to maintain Putney's roads - a problem caused by their decision to cut the highways budget by one third last year. But this pothole in Princes Way goes beyond just carelessness - it is negligence.

The reason I'm singling this pothole out is because it's right over the drain sump or catchbasin - so it's not just a crater in the road, it's a three or four foot drop. This part of Princes Way is within fifty metres of Southmead School, it's right by the 39 and 493 bus stop and its within a few feet of the Ackroydon shops in Montfort Place; one of the busiest parts of a densely-populated area.

The point is that if a child, old person or anyone else for that matter were to mis-step they would easily break their ankle - or worse due to this crater.

I raised my concerns about the state of Princes Way back in November last year. The Council didn't reply until 27 January (though the letter's dated 13 January, so why it took two weeks to get from Wandsworth to Putney I don't know) and this is what they said then:



I reported this specific problem to the Council back on 9th March. I failed to get a reply. I reported it again on Tuesday, 21 April - still no reply. Yesterday I took the photo above.

I think we've all given the council quite a lot of slack because of the extra problems the snow in January caused. But we're three months on and any organised council would have been able to deal with their road maintenance backlog by now. That this council thinks such a major hazard can be ignored is a real concern.

And that happens just to be the worst of the council's neglect of Princes Way: these are all potholes in the stretch between Castlecombe Drive and Augustus Road.