A RESIDENT is furious after hearing that the potholed road she has been complaining about for years will not be repaired until 2011. Janet Girsman of Cedarwood Drive, St Albans, a researcher for a member of the House of Lords, says there is no top surface

A RESIDENT is furious after hearing that the potholed road she has been complaining about for years will not be repaired until 2011.

Janet Girsman of Cedarwood Drive, St Albans, a researcher for a member of the House of Lords, says there is no top surface on the road and it has not been resurfaced for five years. But she has just had a letter from Herts Highways saying it will not be resurfaced until 2011.

Janet said she had been bombarding Herts Highways for years to try to get them to repair the road. Now she is about to make her third official complaint, and will contact the Local Government Ombudsman alleging council malpractice.

She also plans to write a letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears.

She said: "The road is in a terrible state, there is no top surface on it and it is full of holes. I have lost count of the number of times I have written or called Herts Highways. And recently I got a letter full of rubbish saying the case was closed and the road would not be repaired for another three years."

A spokesperson for Herts Highways said they had been in touch with Mrs Girsman since last July; meeting her on site and speaking to her on the phone.

The spokesperson confirmed that in the last four years they had received two phone calls from other residents in Cedarwood Drive.

Herts Highways were planning to resurface Cedarwood Drive in 2011 but that could be changed if it proved necessary.

Herts Highways had to balance preventative maintenance works to prolong the life of existing roads against major repairs to roads that were already in a poor condition within the limited budget that they had.