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Fed up villagers turn potholes into attraction

BBC A large handpainted wooden sign with sunlit hills behind. It reads that Wrexham Council proudly presents Pothole Land, with two kilometres of award winning potholes and very little actual road to spoil your fun. Guarenteed to be the deepest, longest and widest potholes in Wales. The words deepest, longest and widest are displayed in red, orange and yellow star shapes. An arrow with the words, this way, indicates the direction to the left. BBC
Fed up villagers of Pontfadog hope that making a feature of their potholes will get the council's attention

In a small picturesque community on the edge of Wrexham county, a new so-called "tourist-attraction" has popped up.

Pothole Land, just above Pontfadog in the Ceiriog Valley, is a tongue-in-cheek response to what one resident has called "years of concerted council inaction" in maintaining their roads.

Another, Russell Kirk, who lives at the top of a lane with what he said were the "widest, deepest and longest" potholes in Wales, described it as "treacherous" and getting "progressively worse".

Wrexham Council declined to comment.

"People won't come up here anymore," said Mr Kirk, "and that includes the bin men sometimes.

"We are cut off from life, forgotten about."

He added he and his neighbours regularly reported the potholes to Wrexham county borough council, but "nothing has been done".

The creation of Pothole Land is the community's "elegant" response to their predicament, he said.

"It's better not to get angry... let's bring the humour and raise the profile of this, so something can be done."

A man with short grey hair and a short grey beard stands in a large pothole on a country lane with his hands in his pockets. He is wearing a brown jacket over a blue cardigan and a blue and white checked shirt and white t-shirt, blue jeans and black, dusty boots.
Russell Kirk says potholes are getting "progressively worse"

Edd Rayner, who lives near Mr Kirk, said every journey was "an expedition".

"It's a tiny minor unclassified road, we expect it to be lumpy and bumpy, a few potholes here and there, that's OK.

"But, they're not potholes, they're bomb craters. It takes years of concerted council inaction to get to where we are now."

A red pick up truck from the back, pointing up a lane over which hangs a banner which says Pothole Land. The truck has a sign on the back which says POTHOLE TOUR BUS. There is a hay bale and an orange toy tractor in the back of the pick-up. There are sheep in the sunny field at the side of the lane.
Pothole Land is a humorous way to get the council's attention, according to residents

Another resident from Nantyr, near Glyn Ceiriog, further along the valley, said her road was so "horrific" no-one would visit them and they cannot get deliveries.

Jan Gilchrist said she understood the council's budget was stretched but the road had not been repaired "for years".

"The costs to our cars is phenomenal," she added.

"We have to leave the house early to get to work. It should only take five minutes to get down to the village, it takes 15."

"We pay our taxes... what are we getting?"

Jan Gilchrist A picture of a country lane which has a long and narrow pothole and loose stones, a field gate and a footpath sign are visible in the backgroundJan Gilchrist
The road which Jan Gilchrist lives up in Nantyr is also in a poor condition, meaning no one will come to visit

The residents of the Ceiriog Valley may feel isolated as a result of their pothole problem, but they are certainly not alone.

An annual survey carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance showed in 2024 local road conditions were at an all-time low due to "decades of underfunding".

It estimated it would cost more than £16bn to tackle the backlog of repairs in England and Wales.

But with squeezed finances, local authorities were having to prioritise.

Next door to Wrexham, in Flintshire, the lead member for Streetscene which looks after road maintenance, councillor Glyn Banks, said its £1.7m budget was less than half of what was needed to maintain a "steady state" in the road network.

"It's a never-ending circle, squeezed budgets everywhere and we have to fight our corner.

"It's a front-facing service that everyone sees every day, from recycling centres to the road network."

He added a £170,000 purchase of a machine which speeds up the process and efficiency of repairing potholes was going some way in helping stay on top of the issue.

A yellow and black JCB machine on the edge of a suburban A road with parked cars and houses in the background. The area in which it is working is separated off by traffic cones. The machine is planing the tarmac with a cutter on the front. the driver, wearing a yellow hi-vis jacket is visible siting in the cab.
Flintshire council has invested in a "pothole pro" which it says is making the job of filling potholes quicker and easier

But while potholes cost money, they are also helping to make it.

The AA said the total cost of fixing vehicles it attended in the UK which had broken down because of poor road surfaces in 2024 was £579m.

A bald man with a white goatee beard and wearing a black hoody and blue jeans. He is wearing black framed glasses and standing in a garage workshop. There is a white car raised up behind him with the bonnet up.
Andy Jones runs the local garage in Pontfadog, he says they sometimes have to recover vehicles damaged by potholes

Vince Crane from the organisation said there had been more than 600,000 pothole related incidents last year, causing damage to wheels, tyres, body work and suspension.

In Pontfadog, Andy Jones from Ceiriog Valley Service centre said he was "getting busier and busier" with jobs relating to pothole damage, with five coming in over the past week.

A middle aged man with receding brown hair stands in front of a Pothole Land sign over the country lane. He is wearing a brown blazer, a blue and white check shirt and faded black jeans.
Resident Edd Rayner says they haven't seen "a jot of tarmac" for years

Back in Pothole Land, Edd Rayner said he was expecting the council would come and see them - if only to ask them to take their signs down.

"We feel like we've been forgotten up here and Wrexham don't know where we are... well at least now they've got a good reason to come and visit us."

He added if the council would bring some tarmac, they would work with them.

"I'll gather a gang together, we'll fill in the holes ourselves."