Surrey County Council has no money available for major resurfacing of Hambledon’s damaged roads, but it will ensure repairs are carried out to a higher standard.

This was the promise given by Dr Andrew Povey, who is both Hambledon’s county councillor and SCC leader.

Dr Povey faced tough questioning by villagers at the annual parish assembly where he was guest speaker. Many raised concerns about the appalling state of local roads and the poor quality of repairs.

Dr Povey said the problem of potholes had been made worse by the severe weather and that repairs to the county’s road were underway. He was told by members of the audience that potholes had been a menace and a danger long before this last winter and that the state of the roads was a consequence of SCC’s faiure to carry out adequate maintenace in recent years.

He was also told repairs to potholes were “botched” and that the holes reappeared at the same locations within weeks of being filled in.

Dr Povey said there was no money available for wholesale resurfacing. He said that an additional £500,000 had been allocated to carry out emergency repairs but to bring every road up to standard would cost £300 million.

The best hope he offered was that the council would try and ensure a better quality of repair and said that tougher performance targets would be built into new road maintenance contracts when exisiting one expire next year.

He said there was no prospect of the council carrying out its own road maintenance, as it once did, and that it would continue to use contractors.

He said SCC did inspect road repairs carried out on behalf of utility companies and said he would examine complaints that roads in Hambledon had been left in a sub-standard condition following mains work.

He was told of the problem of heavy goods vehicles arriving at the Hydestile Crossroads from Milford and then finding the roads too narrow to navigate and said he would take back a request for better signage to discourage lorries from using the lanes as a cut-through.

Asked about the lack of snow clearance following the heavy January snowfall, he said the council’s priority was clearing A roads. But it can make snow ploughs available to local farmers and contractors to use in their neighbourhoods. Hambledon Parish Council has already undertaken to support such measures. Dr Povey said he would ensure that local salt bins were kepts stocked up before the onset of winter.