BUSINESSES and residents in Laindon are demanding action after complaining about the poor state of their road.

They have joined together to demand something is done immediately to sort out the problems in Victoria Road.

People believe the road surface has deteriorated because the busy route is used as a short cut.

Ann Collier, 40, of Victoria Road, said when she drives she can feel every bump, as though the road is coming into contact with the chassis of her car. She added: “It is pretty bad.

“This is quite a major cut through route. There are a lot of people on the school run, because there are two schools around here as well as the pub and doctors surgery.

“Local buses run a ten-minute service both ways, which probably doesn’t help.

“I don’t expect our roads to be perfect, but we pay our taxes. It shouldn’t be a privilege to have a nice road to go along.

“It’s money being spent elsewhere. Where is the money going that we are paying for in our road tax? For a busy road like this, I thought it would have been more of a high priority.”

Claire Bones, manager of the Four Seasons pub, showed the Echo the bad road surface outside her premises. She said: “They have to do something soon.”

Michael Page, Essex County Council spokesman, said some repairs were already being carried out to improve the road surface and remove any hazards.

He said: “Last week an inspector went down to inspect the cracks.

“He did some temporary filling-in works that weren’t intended to be permanent. We will go down next week to do some more temporary work, which should last longer.

“We also intend to carry out some more extensive resurfacing work as part of our ongoing repair programme.”