A tale to dismay all country road users

THE headline on page eight of last Saturday's Western Morning News provoked a heart-sink moment for anyone who lives in the rural Westcountry and drives a car. Which means everyone.

- PHILIP BOWERN

"County's roads face 'inevitable decline," it said.

Having already set the bar extremely low, Devon County Council is preparing to let its road maintenance programme slide even further. Residents may want to consider getting a horse, one councillor suggested, replacing four wheels with four legs to better negotiate the broken highways.

A report from council officers warns that "potholes are likely to become more prevalent" while Devon's minor roads will "gradually deteriorate." Unclassified roads many of which lead to hamlets all across Devon will get "minimal maintenance," the report explains.

At this point, the mood of many rural readers might have lifted a little. "Minimal maintenance" sounds like a big improvement on what most country lane dwellers have been used to in recent years, but the overall message is a bleak one. Far from promising improvements to a road network that is crumbling, the local authority with the responsibility of keeping our vital communications network in tip-top shape is effectively throwing in the towel. As an example of a nation where public services are falling apart, it could hardly be more depressingly appropriate.