Accusations have been made of public money being wasted after road resurfacing left a street “lumpy and bumpy”.

The Comet: The new raod surface which has drawn complaints from residents of The OundleThe new raod surface which has drawn complaints from residents of The Oundle (Image: Archant)

Poor road resurfacing in Stevenage’s The Oundle was highlighted in the Comet last week by Michael and Tracey King, who noticed newly laid bitumen was coming away in chunks and leaving holes.

Herts County Council – the authority responsible for the resurfacing – had said workmen had run into “technical difficulty” – but Tracey believes the attempts since to fix the problem are no better.

“We don’t have holes any more, but unsightly mounds, and I’m not quite sure which is worse,” she said.

“It’s still lumpy and bumpy. It’s awful and it’s not going to last. Come the winter, it will all come back up again.

“It’s such a waste of money as we didn’t have a problem with the road before the resurfacing.

“I think the council was just wasting money before the end of the financial year.”

Peter Craig added: “This poor standard isn’t confined to that area – streets in Bragbury End have been similarly spoiled.”

A County Hall spokesman said: HCC said: “We appreciate residents’ concerns, but the patch repairs will blend in with the new surface over time as the traffic beds it in.

“Further repairs are programmed to be carried out next week, weather permitting. Once the work has been completed we will carry out an inspection to pick up any defects that may have appeared since the work was carried out.

“We follow national guidelines when identifying areas for work and focus on getting the best value for money. We take a long-term view of all the roads in the county in relation to one another when working out which ones to maintain or repair first, which enables us to make the best use of limited resources.”