AN ACCESS road to a retail park is littered with deep potholes – but no-one can discover who is responsible for the privately-owned stretch. The craters have opened up at Alban Park, off Hatfield Road in St Albans, and one local resident believes the stat

AN ACCESS road to a retail park is littered with deep potholes - but no-one can discover who is responsible for the privately-owned stretch.

The craters have opened up at Alban Park, off Hatfield Road in St Albans, and one local resident believes the state of the road is so dangerous that it should be closed to traffic immediately.

Steven Eaves of Thirlestane, St Albans, said: "When I complained to Homebase about the poor condition of such a busy road they informed me that there was an ongoing dispute regarding who was actually responsible for those long overdue repairs.

"What is not in dispute however is the dangerous, neglected state of that road. I intend to boycott all of the businesses that trade at Alban Park. "

A spokesperson for Herts Highways said the road was definitely not their responsibility but they were not sure who owned it.

She said they thought it was owned by a firm whose agents were Halls in Victoria Street but Hall's denied any connection with the firm mentioned and only looked after two small units in a cul-de-sac on the estate on behalf of a client.

Steve Walker, MD of Hall's, said: "It is obviously a problem if it is deterring people from going down there. Even if the units were to share the expense of repairing the road you are bound to get certain firms who are not retail outlets not wanting to help defray the cost."

The Herts Highways spokesperson said they took legal advice on whether it would be possible to spend taxpayers' money on repairing the private land but were advised that it was not possible.

She added: "However, we continue to be concerned about the state of the roads on the industrial site and we are now trying to contact the management company to persuade them to make the repairs.