Cranleigh Cart Tracks

by Geoff Lane

04 Apr 2007

The roads around Cranleigh in Surrey have deteriorated every year for the past 20 years we have lived here. Foreign visitors must think they are visting a third world country rather than one of the world's richest.

The situation has deteriorated substantially over the past few years following Surrey County Council's decision to outsource its repairs work. The genius who thought of this not only tied the council into a long term deal but included no quality measures. The contractor inspects and approves their own work.

Since this was introduced the quality of repairs has deteriorated to level only matched by doorstep "contractors" offering to tarmac your drive. Repairs frequently only last a matter of a few weeks and some have disintegrated after a few days.

This has reduced some of the roads around Cranleigh to little better than cart tracks causind serious damage to cars on a regular basis. The one boom business in the area is that of tyre fitters who have never been busier.

Of greater concern is the threat to cyclists. Cranleigh is located in very beautiful countryside which has recently seen a significant boom in cycling. It is only a matter of time before the poor state of our roads causes serious injury or death to a cyclist.

I will follow up shortly with photographic eveidence from our area.