A CALL for action has been made to tackle a “Third World” road surface in Kennington.

Community leaders say Kennington Road has become progressively worse in recent years and now they have called for intervention from Oxfordshire County Council.

The length of the busy road, used by most motorists to access the village’s shops and other amenities, is riddled with potholes and cracked in key locations.

Bob Johnston, a parish, district and county councillor who lives in Kennington Road, said the problem had been getting worse over the years.

He said: “It has been getting slowly worse for years and years, and I think the bad winter we had two or three years ago was what really kicked it off.

“We had quite a bad winter last year, too, which can’t have made it any better.

“They did the worst part of it, in The Avenue, last April because it had got to the point where vehicles were getting damaged, but with Kennington Road they have just patched it up.”

Fellow councillor Jerry Patterson, of Woodcroft, likened the road surface to infrastructure in the Third World.

He said: “I use the road on the bus and I drive it. We were promised things about it being repaired last year but it never happened and now they just appear to be patching it.

“You hear lots of stories about people getting their wheels damaged, and it’s just a damned nuisance to have to bang along on what are Third World roads.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said problems had been highlighted recently and that some work was being organised.

He said: “We are aware of recent concerns raised in relation to the condition of Kennington Road, which is monitored on a monthly basis by Highways staff. “As recently as Tuesday a local resident accompanied one of the council’s officers during an inspection of the carriageway. “It was established that there were a small number of defects that required some attention and this work is currently being organised. The council will continue to monitor the situation.”

He added: “We would encourage people to continue to report potholes and other road problems using the county council’s online reporting facility.”