Residents ‘playing hell’ over ‘shocking’ rural road councillor says is covered in potholes

Councillor Steve Kay was rebuffed in a call to speed up improvements to Stanghow Road, which connects the A171 at Lockwood Beck to Skelton, via Stanghow village and Lingdale, having described large sections as being in a “perilous state” and dangerous.

Coun Kay described “perils to life and limb” and vehicles swerving to avoid the potholes, and others being seriously damaged.

But Councillor Carl Quartermain, the cabinet member for highways and transport, who responded to a question from Coun Kay at a recent meeting of Redcar and Cleveland Council which called for action to be taken, said Stanghow Road was only ranked “1,632nd” in terms of the condition of the road when compared to others in the borough.

He also said that scheduled spending on road resurfacing in Coun Kay’s Lockwood ward demonstrated that it was not being left out.

Coun Kay said some minimal filling and patching of the holes had been done by the local authority on Stanghow Road, although this was totally inadequate.

He said the road was due to be resurfaced, but not until 2025/26, which was “unacceptably late”, and despite pleas the council had refused to bring the work forward.

Coun Kay said: “The current neglect of Stanghow Road is a glaring example of how East Cleveland is constantly neglected when compared with the downtown, western areas of the borough.

“The shocking state of Stanghow Road would never be tolerated in Redcar or Greater Eston.”

Coun Kay told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that not a day passed without people commenting or complaining about the state of the road and they were “playing hell” over it.

Coun Quartermain said in response: “The carriageway treatment programme is a data-led prioritisation of the entire network with every road surveyed to nationally recognised standards.

“[They are] given a condition rating and ranked worst to best.

“[Our] yearly programme is determined each year from the budget available for highways resurfacing and deals with the roads in the worst condition.

“Stanghow Road is programmed for resurfacing in 2025/26, it is not in the 2024/25 programme because there are other roads in the borough that require interventions first based on the data collected.”

Coun Quartermain, who said he had driven the road in question many times over, added: “Some roads can deteriorate faster than anticipated at which point we can review the programme.

“Engineers have undertaken a review of Stanghow Road onsite in April and again in June and determined that the carriageway is in average condition.

“Some patching work was identified in isolated areas and work orders raised.

“Regular inspections of the network continue and any safety critical defects will be dealt with when required.”

He said Stanghow Road was three miles long with the council managing 450 miles of carriageway in the borough.

It was only ranked 1,632nd in a condition table with a survey placing it in the ‘green’ category with a recommendation of some preventative maintenance in the next three to five years.

A total of £460,000 was due to be spent in 2024/25 on four road schemes in the Lockwood ward, he said.

Coun Quartermain said: “I don’t think Lockwood is being left out.”