A damage-ridden Netherfield street likened to the surface of the moon will benefit from up to £150,000 works.
Godfrey Street’s road surface has been left to deteriorate for several years, with potholes littered across it from one end to the other.
The road’s residents woke up one morning in late February to the work of vigilantes who had left painted profanities around some of the largest sections of damage.
Then in March, an anonymous resident put up signs on the road, warning drivers to beware of the moon-like ‘craters’ on the street and sarcastically referring to it as a ‘NASA testing area’.
Locals have frequently reported potholes to Nottinghamshire County Council, but have been routinely told that the damaged areas are not deep enough, leaving the street to crumble further.
Now, the whole length of Godfrey Street is set to get “long overdue” resurfacing works – costing between £100,000 to £150,000 – after the council added it to its £11.2 million “Worst First” priority roadworks list – influenced by councillor requests.
County Councillor Mike Adams (Con), who represents the area on the authority, says Godfrey Street was one of the three roads he put forward as a request and called it ‘one of the top three worst side roads in [his] patch’.
He said: “I thought the residents did really well with their campaigning, the lobbying, keeping it in the news – the signs got quite a lot of notice.
“I’ve driven down that road – it’s horrendous. I’ve took the head of VIA (Nottinghamshire County Council’s highways company) down there.
“It probably started to really deteriorate about 18 months ago, then in the last year it’s just got worse and worse… every journey going over it, the more damage happens to it.”
Nikki Love, 59, who has lived on the street for seven years said she has been complaining about the damage for the past two years and has written to her local MP, Michael Payne (Lab), about its state “several times”.
Speaking on the news of the works, she said: “It’s about time… there’s been some action, they came and filled one pothole and sent a letter saying ‘we’ve finished our work, I hope you’re happy with it’ – the second time they filled in potholes but not very well.
“It’s not good for wear and tear on the cars… West Bridgford roads are so much better, people complain over there and things get done.”
Darren, 55, who has lived on Godfrey Street for 33 years echoed Ms Love’s feelings, saying: “When Arnold want something doing or one of these more affluent areas want something doing, they get it done.
“With us they just threw a bunch of tarmac in – I always think it looks like chewing gum thrown down the street, they are not even filling them right”
“I’ll be happy when they do something about it, until then it’s all smoke and mirrors to me.”
Gedling Borough Netherfield councillor, Alison Hunt (Lab), said she was “absolutely delighted” over the news but said it was “long overdue”.
She said: “Historically, roads in Gedling borough seem to be worse than anywhere else in the county.
“What annoys me about this is people [in Netherfield] can be the least able to afford repairing their cars – the area is a deprived area. If you’ve got a hospital appointment and you come out to your car and you’ve got a flat tyre, it has a devastating effect.”
Cllr Hunt says a lot of the streets in the area have old cobblestone underneath the modern tarmac, adding: “When things are resurfaced or potholes are reported, they have to be a certain depth to qualify – in Godfrey Street because a lot of them don’t meet the criteria, they’re not deep enough, they didn’t get on a list.”
The Reform-led authority has recently unveiled its full list of 44 road sites across Nottinghamshire that it is set to resurface or surface dress as part of an £11.2 million scheme based on councillor requests.
Each councillor at the authority has been able to submit three key roads in the areas they represent to be put forward for priority resurfacing works.
More than 150 councillor requests were put forward and highway officers and staff narrowed this down to 44 sites which met the requirements for full resurfacing.
The “Worst First” list is part of the authority’s wider highways capital programme, which will see more than £181 million put in to mend dilapidated roads in 2026/27.
Speaking on the new list, Nottinghamshire County Council leader, Mick Barton (Ref), said on Thursday (June 18): “It’s brilliant stuff… All three priority roads by each councillor will be addressed in some way or another.
“The ones that haven’t made this [scheme] for resurfacing or surface dressing will still get maintained in some way by JCB patch repairs or the first time crews.”
Cllr Barton says each of the 44 priority works will be done by the end of this year.
