Street repairs plea to council

Churchill Avenue is an unadopted road which means the council has no responsibility to mend holes in its surface or pavement.

Now some of the residents are calling on the council to take over the responsibilities.

Campaigning resident Ken Ray, aged 64, says many of his neighbours are pensioners who cannot afford the cost of fixing the street.

They paid out 10,000 to repair the surface a few years ago, but Mr Ray says the pavements remain in a terrible state.

He said: "There was hardly any surface left on the pavement when we had it repaired. It's only a small cul-de-sac with 12 bungalows and most of us are old age pensioners.

"They say the surface is our responsibility, but I think it is time this situation was resolved.

"We're already paying our council tax - it feels like the council has just washed its hands of us. Parts of the pavement are non-existent. I don't think pensioners should be having to pay for their own roads."

He has asked Coun Martin Williams to take up the case, who said: "The road is fine but the pavement is a trip hazard. These people have paid to help themselves. We should be helping them."

But Doncaster Council says its own survey stated opinion was divided among residents on the issue of it being adopted by the council.

Mayor Martin Winter said: "I am committed to making every neighbourhood in Doncaster a place where people want to live. Part of that commitment is to bring roads up to an acceptable standard, where residents identify this as a need.

"We consulted with residents of Churchill Avenue in 2003 to ascertain if they were in favour of the council adopting and improving their road.

"Where more than 50 per cent were in agreement, the road was entered into our priority scheme to receive attention. Unfortunately much less than 50 per cent of Churchill Avenue residents were in favour of this scheme.

"In fact, only 29 per cent of the residents expressed an interest, therefore it is not part of our current plan to become a council adopted road."