LORRIES travelling through a residential area to reach a scrap metal centre are causing serious damage to the roads, it has been revealed.

The Comet has learned that HGVs travelling along Cadwell Lane in Hitchin to Metal and Waste Recycling are cracking the road surface.

A visit to the road from Herts Highways confirmed the damage and in an email seen by the Comet, the extent of that is revealed.

In the email, road maintenance delivery manager Lorraine Bennetts said: “Given the nature of the traffic that Cadwell Lane has to deal with, both weight and frequency, it is apparent that in localised areas the road is cracking.

“It is to be expected that cracking will eventually reappear in any road surface and given the nature of the traffic this is clearly what is occurring.”

She added: “I accept that it is a residential road but the way in which it is used is vastly different to any normal residential road hence the rapid reappearance of cracking.

“Unfortunately, given the traffic that Cadwell Lane carries, it may always be in need of more frequent maintenance than otherwise expected until such time as an alternative way of using the road can be found, and HCC will endeavour to accommodate that within the needs of the network as a whole.”

Ms Bennetts said the road would be again included in Herts County Council’s highways programme for some extensive patching and crack treatment.

But there are calls from North Herts district councillor Lisa Courts to take further action, by creating a link road to the site.

Cllr Courts, who hopes to meet NHDC officers and MP Peter Lilley, has been campaigning for years along with Cadwell Lane residents and claims the lorries travelling down the road have caused them much misery.

“It’s there in black and white – what more do they (the county council) need to know,” she said.

“There are no more excuses. If they (lorries) are damaging the roads, they are potentially having an effect on property too. It’s got beyond a joke now.

“Money is being thrown away by the constant repairing. There has got to be a better solution.”