Villagers have criticised the county council for resurfacing a country lane 'with no potholes' and ignoring two roads in desperate need of repair.

Oxfordshire County Council is resurfacing around one million square metres of carriageway as part of a £7million programme.

It is the biggest surface dressing programme undertaken in Oxfordshire for at least 20 years.

But taxpayers in South Leigh near Witney took aim at the council after three miles on two roads "with perfectly good surfaces" were resurfaced.

READ MORE: Road partly closed by police after crash in Oxford

Meanwhile Station Road and Chapel Road that run through the village are "a patchwork of old and new potholes" which have been constantly reported on Fix My Street.

Oxford Mail: 3. Cllr Lysette Nicholls with local residents by the potholed section of road with the newly

Resident Martin Spurrier said: “At a time when money is short for everyone, this appears to be reckless misuse or mismanagement of public funds.

"That is in addition to the fact that the worst potholed roads have been virtually ignored leaving risks to road users and pedestrians as cars swerve to avoid them."

He added: “There were no reports of potholes on the roads that have been re-surfaced while there were 16 reported on FixMyStreet on Station Road and more in Chapel Road.”

Temporary road closure notices went up in April and on May 23 the entire length of the road to Barnard Gate was re-surfaced and on May 24 the same was carried out on Stanton Harcourt Road.

Mr Spurrier said: "The matter was brought to the attention of Oxfordshire County Council a month before work started giving them ample time to re-schedule the work to where it was needed.

"This is an outrage and needs an explanation. County councillor Dan Levy has responded to my complaint saying that he too is disappointed.”

Another resident, Caroline Gane, said, “I also raised the matter with Cllr Levy and asked who oversees deciding which roads need doing and how they get funding.

Oxford Mail: Local resident Peter Grant with a large pothole marked up which still hasn’t been repaired

"This left-hand/right-hand bureaucratic nonsense at the expense of taxpayers and the re-surfacing of excellent road surfaces while leaving shameful ones virtually ignored is exactly why we are up in arms."

Members of the public can report potholes using www.fixmystreet.com, preferably with photograph.

People can also log on to the Oxfordshire County Council website www.oxfordshire.gov.uk to access Fix My Street and report potholes.

Oxfordshire County Council said the work on Stanton Harcourt Road was surface dressing, which is preventative treatment to extend the life of the road and prevent potholes forming in the first place.

Surface dressing is not a suitable treatment for roads that have deteriorated like Station Road and Chapel Road and a highways officer has been assigned to look at the pothole reports along these roads.

A spokesperson added: "We don’t currently have anything programmed in for this, but it is on the list as a potential patching site for the future."