This Hailsham man is on a mission to improve roads in the town

Lewis Isted, 22, has set up a petition calling for East Sussex County Council to take action over the ‘diabolical’ state of the roads.

His online petition, which is titled ‘Bring Hailsham’s Roads Back To Their Former Glory!’, asks the county council to repair the roads on a permanent basis rather than temporary fixes. It has been signed by over 100 people.

Lewis said: “The roads in Hailsham are pretty diabolical. It seems from my point of view no-one cares.

“I want to make the residents of Hailsham aware that there is at least one person doing something to make the roads better for them. And to make it a safer place to live.”

Lewis, who works at Totally Wicked e-cigarette shop in the town, said he nearly came off his motorcycle a couple of months ago which spurred him on to do something about the roads.

“I nearly hit a hole on the A295. It was quite a scary experience. Fortunately I escaped unhurt,” he commented.

In response, an East Sussex Highways spokesman said: “Our highways stewards are out all year round carrying our regular inspections of all the county’s roads and responding to reports received from the public.

We have been made aware of defects in some of these roads in Hailsham and our stewards have instructed repairs, some of which have been completed and some of which are in our maintenance programme to be repaired.

“We invest £15million a year in resurfacing roads, repaired more than 26,000 potholes last year alone, and have committed an additional £1million in 2020-21 for work including patching. However, we only have very limited resources so have to prioritise work on those most in need repair – regardless of where in the county they are – according to national guidelines and county council policies.

“We don’t allocate our maintenance budgets on a town-by-town basis, rather we follow Department for Transport guidance and prioritise our maintenance on a county-wide basis, and based on need.

“We’re grateful to Mr Isted for making us aware of issues he’s spotted and would encourage residents to help us keep our roads in good shape by reporting potholes or other defects to us via our website.”

To sign Lewis’ petition, visit https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=500000032&RPID=503434728&HPID=503434728.