Kings Cliffe resident raises alarm over dangers of rural road following accident
A woman living on a rural road outside Kings Cliffe has warned of the ‘huge amount’ of damage being caused by heavy traffic after she witnessed the aftermath of a serious accident.
Sandra Beale, who lives in Kings Cliffe Road near to Rockingham Forest Park, has raised concerns about the road surface after the incident which happened at the end of March.
Now the council says it has undertaken a temporary repair and has admitted there has been an ‘unprecedented increase’ in potholes across the whole of the unitary area after inclement weather.
Sandra was alerted by blue flashing lights at about 7am on Monday, March 23, and went out of her home to investigate.
A male driver had hit a large pothole at speed and overturned his car, ending up in the hedgerow.
While the emergency services worked, an employee of Bray Solutions on Kings Cliffe Industrial Estate stopped the traffic heading from the direction of Kings Cliffe.
Sandra measured the pothole and found it was 1.4metres long and 42cm wide, with a depth of 8cm.
She said: “It is located just a few metres away from the edge of a 40 foot deep old quarry pit in Bedford Purlieus. After hitting the pot hole it seems the car veered away from the pit and ended up in the opposite hedgerow.”
There are several other potholes on the road, close to the Rockingham Forest Park entrance.Sandra added: “There is a huge amount of damage being caused to the rural road as it dominated by HGV and car transporter traffic travelling to and from Kings Cliffe Industrial Estate adjacent to Rockingham Forest Park.
"As the drivers can’t find the hidden industrial site entrance located on the bridleway with confusing signage on the highway they often use the nearby entrance to Rockingham Forest Park to reverse into and turn around.
Sandra also said she is concerned about a forthcoming planning decision on a proposed extension to expand the holiday park, adding that she believes a transport assessment completed in 2022 that stated that the road does not carry a high volume of traffic is not accurate.
She said:” Everyone who lives round here knows how dangerous the 60mph Kings Cliffe Road is.
“All the local residents hope the driver who was taken away in an ambulance is ok and makes a good recovery”.
North Northamptonshire Council, which is responsible for the road, said in a statement: “Following a notification of an incident, we undertook temporary repairs and will be back later this month to carry out a permanent repair.
“We last inspected this section of road at the end of January at which point no defects were identified.
“Over the last two months, we have seen an unprecedented increase in potholes across the whole of North Northamptonshire, with defects forming quickly.
"This has been caused by a combination of prolonged wet weather, repeated freeze-thaw conditions and the cumulative impact on an already ageing road surface.
"As a result, our highways teams have been responding to far higher number of defects than usual.
“Residents should be assured our teams are working hard to tackle the increased volume of defects and will continue to carry repairs as quickly and safely as possible.”