A mysterious artist dubbed the Daventry “Banksy” has erected 26 signs shaming the local council over the number of potholes on the roads.
The anonymous campaigner has vowed to keep putting up the hand-painted signs around Daventry, Northamptonshire, despite them being repeatedly removed.
The signs call Daventry “Pot Hole City” and use film references to shame West Northamptonshire Council over the issue.
One sign referencing the film Grease, read: “I got potholes. They’re multiplying. And W.N.C is losing control.” Another said: “Ghostbusters. Who you gonna call? Not W.N.C”, and “Warning: Extreme traffic calming – craters.”
Motorists say they have been left angry over the number of potholes plaguing the town’s streets and damaging people’s cars for the past few months.
The campaigner, who calls herself “Daventry Banksy” says she will not stop until “the council apologises publicly to the people of Daventry for being incompetent”.
She added: “I will be continuing until we have had an apology from the council and they publish an action plan stating what they will do to rectify the situation, how they are prioritising repairs, what they are doing to hold their contractors accountable, and finally what the specific timelines are.
“The community support has been fantastic, and I think that is where the real power is. We’re not allowing this to fade away until real action from the WNC is seen.
“I really believe we allow our government, both at a local and national level, to get away with incompetence and a lack of integrity.
“Going forward, I would urge anyone within the community to do what they can, whether this is putting their own signs up or even just continuing to share posts on social media, so we can keep this top of the agenda.”
Speaking to ITV News, she added: “I’m fed up of Daventry being the underdog.
“Collectively, as a town, we will shame the council into repairing the roads properly.
“Especially when the council tax went up by the maximum allowance, we just deserve better.
“They keep repairing them shabbily and they have to keep coming back out again. It seems like such a waste of time, a waste of money.”
Drivers have said they have been left increasingly frustrated by the scores of potholes on the town’s roads, with many suffering flat tyres and broken springs.
Other residents have criticised the lack of council action, saying some roads have been left like a “slalom track” as they try to avoid potholes.
Richard Nuthall, 69, who has lived in Daventry for 29 years, said: “The signs are certainly needed to highlight the holes as they are quite bad.
“All the time you’re driving your swerving in and out to avoid them.
“On some of the roundabouts you’re looking at the holes in the road to avoid them and not the actual cars.
“I think it’s quite a humorous thing and it’s obviously brought it to the attention of the council. I think the council should be doing more, they don’t do enough.”
Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The council has been trying to cover the potholes since the signs have been up.
“They’ve been working at night to try and patch it up. Some of them aren’t exactly the best repairs.”
Another local Michael, 30, recently moved to the area from Bicester, Oxfordshire, and said he had noticed a “huge difference” to the quality of the roads.
He said: “I moved here two months ago from Bicester and I can see that there’s a huge difference in road quality in Daventry.
“I’ve been travelling and it’s horribly bad, especially around the roundabouts.
“You need to manoeuvre and it’s not safe at all as you focus more on the potholes than the actual roads. It should be the top priority.
“I think the signs are a good idea and making a strong argument.”
Councillor Jonathan Nunn, leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said: “We understand people’s frustration with the current condition of the roads and we are prioritising completing the most essential work first as well as having a full plan of maintenance for the year and as the weather improves.
“Maintaining our roads is a significant task. In the Daventry area alone we’ve received nearly 4,000 reports in the past six months, attended around 500 emergencies, repaired 2,500 defects, and completed over 10,000 square metres of repairs to roads in the area.
“Some of the repairs of most concern to residents in the Daventry area are on particularly busy roundabouts, where we have repaired some, with one key roundabout scheduled for later this month as it requires a deeper repair which can only be properly repaired with the certainty of warmer spring weather.
“It’s a challenge for all councils to balance the competing priorities for our limited budgets. We know the state of our roads matters to the public.”
The council added that £162 million has been allocated to West Northamptonshire Council from central Government over the next seven years for its wider road network as part of the HS2 phase two cancellation.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
