A WOMAN has accused Oxfordshire County Council of “wasting money” by filling in potholes just five weeks before her street is set to be entirely resurfaced.

Olive Minett, of Corn Street in Witney, spotted workmen patching up her road last Wednesday.

She had asked the council to fix the holes in December after fracturing her thumb tripping in one.

But the 77-year-old received a letter from the council saying the same road would be totally resurfaced during the week commencing August 18.

Mrs Minett said: “It’s a total waste of money at a time when we’re all trying to make savings. Elderly people can’t get care and this just seems stupid.

“They’ve (the potholes) needed to be done for ages and this just proves it, but they’ve decided instead to fix them temporarily just five weeks before the proper work.

“It’s a main road and has always been a bad surface but last winter made it really bad.”

After she complained in December, Mrs Minett was told by council officers that the potholes had to be a certain depth before they could be repaired.

She said 11 potholes were filled in last week, seven months after she fell.

Witney Town Council member Chrissie Curry, who lives in Corn Street, said: “It does seem a little bit strange what they’ve been doing but I don’t know what the council’s mindset was. I’m glad the whole street is going to be resurfaced.”

Witney Central county councillor Laura Price said she had been confused when she spotted the work being carried out, because of the forthcoming resurfacing job.

But the councillor believed the council could have been left open to insurance claims if it did nothing.

She said: “I want to see proper investment in our roads and would have liked to see that stretch of Corn Street resurfaced a long time ago. In the meantime we have to report defects and if something has the potential to cause someone harm then the council has to repair it.”

Part of Corn Street will be closed between Butchers Court and Holloway Road for three days from Monday, August 18, and between Holloway Road and Marlborough Lane from Thursday, August 21, until Monday, August 25.

County council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: “The county council monitors defects on the road.

“This part of Corn Street required attention as it had deteriorated and posed a safety risk.

“Leaving the holes for a number of weeks is not an option.”

The Oxford Mail asked the county council for the cost of both works but it refused to give the answer.

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