MP wants pothole fix for road 'with no owner'

An MP has called on a local council to fix a road that, unusually, no person or authority has ownership of.

Old Bridge Way in Shefford, Bedfordshire, has been ownerless since the company previously in charge of it went into liquidation.

Local Labour MP Alistair Strathern said it was in an "horrendous condition" and that Central Bedfordshire Council should "step up and do the right thing".

John Baker, the executive member for finance and highways at the council, said the local authority "acknowledged concerns".

In a letter to the council, Strathern said the state of the road had "reached a stalemate" and he described it as being in "ownerless limbo".

The BBC has learnt that the road was disclaimed by the liquidator for the former owner, Freshfield Planning Limited, in March 2024.

By law, that means the road is subject to the unusual escheat legal process, whereby the Crown Estate typically deals with the land.

Strathern launched a petition, calling on the council to use additional highways funding to work with the Crown Estate to "get the road into a fit and proper state".

The Crown Estate declined to comment on the situation.

One of those to sign Strathern's petition was cyclist Kathy Murden, who had lived in Shefford for 27 years.

"Every winter the road deteriorates a bit more," she explained.

"The potholes are completely lethal and they are on both sides of the road so all the cars that drive down will try and dodge them."

She said she cycled through 10 countries in Europe in the summer, travelling 2,200 miles, but claimed Old Bridge Way was "head and above the worst bit of road".

Baker said last month, the council resurfaced the parts of Old Bridge Way that it owned.

But he said the contentious section of road was "not an adopted public highway so does not fall under our management or jurisdiction".

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