'Ironic' to have Tour of Britain in Gloucestershire - councillor

The Tour of Britain's route through Gloucestershire is ironic given the condition of the county's roads for cyclists, a councillor has said.

The seventh stage of this year's tour is set to start in Tewkesbury and finish in Gloucester in September.

Residents say they are worried the road conditions, which are already in a poor state, will worsen in autumn.

Gloucestershire County Council said it had engineers "working extremely hard" to fix them.

"[We] have more engineers out making urgent repairs on top of 36 teams already fixing the worst reported potholes," it said.

"We also have an extra eight teams finding and fixing smaller potholes before they get worse. On top of that more than 170 roads are set to be resurfaced across the county this year.

"The Tour of Britain is a fantastic opportunity to bring a world-class sporting event to the county, stimulating the economy and tourism in Gloucestershire. We're very proud to offer our support."

But Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Hodgkinson said: "It's ironic to have the Tour of Britain coming to the county when so many of the roads which are used by everyday cyclists are in a dreadful state.

"Cyclists would be seriously at risk if they used them. Roads like the Whiteway between North Cerney and Chedworth are dangerous and have been so for ages."

The Tour of Britain will pass through Chedworth, although the route does not run along the stretch of the Whiteway referred to by Mr Hodgkinson.

Residents are also calling on Gloucestershire County Council to fix a number of roads.

Colin Peirce, who lives in Chedworth, persuaded the parish council on Wednesday to write to county council leader Mark Hawthorne and highways cabinet member Dom Morris to ask for the roads to be properly repaired.

Mr Peirce said: "We pay over £30bn in car tax and fuel duty and nothing like that is ringfenced for the maintenance of the roads.

"In Chedworth, we have some appalling road conditions which have been allowed to get worse.

"The parish council has to stand up for us and insist that these roads are resurfaced, they need total repair. We've got cyclists and pedestrians injuring themselves and damage to cars."

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