'Soap opera' of Hucknall road dubbed 'Britain's worst' continues to rumble on

Angry words were exchanged at the council meeting on May 12 between Lee Waters (Ash Ind), who represents Hucknall South at County Hall, and Coun Neil Clarke (Con) – the man in charge of Hucknall’s broken roads and pavements.

Coun Clarke, chairman of the joint committee on strategic planning and transport claimed that Brookside had been sorted, but Coun Waters said this was not true.

The road hit the headlines earlier this year when Coun Waters described a repair job on it as ‘a pig’s ear’.

The council later apologised for this and said the repairs would be completed.

At the meeting, Coun Clarke claimed that Brookside in Hucknall was an ‘example of best practice – it proves that we get things done’

But Coun Waters said that, contrary to the council’s claims it was now a job well done, the road was still in the same terrible state.

He said: “It’s now been more than seven months since the publication of the Highway’s Review, done after years of abject failure from the Conservative-led County Council.

"Would the chairman tell us what recommendations have actually been implemented on the ground by borough or district?”

Coun Clarke claimed the council was ‘doing a good job’ but Coun Waters raised the 61 different occasions that Ashfield Independent councillors called for a Highway’s Review between 2017 and 2021.

He also slammed the decision of the Conservatives to vote against the Independents’ proposals to turbo charge the Highway’s Maintenance Programme.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “The Tories at County Hall held up Brookside in Hucknall as an example of their excellent work.

"The problem is that it hasn’t been done at all.

"It was only after it was outed as Britain’s worst road by ITV and included on my highway’s priorities that the council agreed to do something.

"Even then, they made a pig’s ear of part it.

"Now, Coun Clarke claims it has all been done when it hasn’t been.

"Brookside in Hucknall is turning out to one big soap opera.

”Residents just want it to be sorted once and for all.”