A mystery motorist hunted by highways chiefs after filling in a huge pothole in Cornwall has said the local council should be thanking him.

Emily Atkinson www.independent.co.uk

The unnamed vigilante repairman allegedly spent £1,000 of his own money to fill the 10ft hole with concrete. The crater lies in the middle of a road in Lostwithiel, which has been closed for more than a month to the despair of residents.

The man has since broken his silence, telling MailOnline he is, in fact, an experienced road worker who only had acted in support of his neighbours.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: “ I thought it was a good thing to do personally. I think I did everybody a favour.

“If anything the council should be thanking me, not hunting me down. I spent the seven hours and £1,000 hiring the equipment and buying materials.”

Days after the hole was filled, the council deployed its own road maintenance team to reinstall the barriers to close off the road once again, saying the work had been done “by persons unknown, without consent”.

Council chiefs then urged residents to turn in the man, but he remains confident he won’t face retribution.

“Why kick up such a fuss? It was open for three days before they put the concrete blocks back. I think the council are just trying to save face now because they’re embarrassed,” he said.

The unnamed man’s actions were subject to widespread acclaim, with former Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg among those heaping praise on the guerilla repair operation.

“The bureaucratic state hates being humiliated so resorts to bullying the good citizen,” he wrote on Twitter.

One nearby resident told MailOnline: “The person who filled it is a hero.”

Another compared the mystery man to Sir Rod Stewart, who last year helped fill potholes near his home in Harlow, Essex.

Cornwall Council’s roads repair company Cormac has said the road would now remain closed until 9 June, adding it did not intend to mend it again until it has caught up with a backlog of pothole repairs.

Ahead of this month’s local elections, prime minister Rishi Sunak promised a clampdown on potholes.

On a visit to Darlington, he said new powers would help ensure firms repair roads properly after carrying out works, through more fines and inspections.

Local councillor Colin Martin stands in front of pothole which has closed the road in Lostwithiel

The government also said it was investing more than £5.5bn between 2020 and 2025 in highways maintenance, with an extra £200m to help fix potholes announced in March’s budget.

A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: “There is an ongoing issue with drainage at this site which has led to the deterioration of the road surface. These drainage issues have meant that any surface repairs during the winter have been temporary.

“As we are now moving into warmer and drier weather, Cormac [the maintenance company] can programme in the permanent drainage and surfacing repairs needed at this site.”

I don’t think it is an apology at all. I think it was somebody trying to strategise: “We are going to treat our customers with even more contempt than we’ve ever done before.”

Feargal Sharkey www.thetimes.co.uk 

We’ve paid and provided all the funding needed for the water companies to meet their legal obligations, to build, operate, maintain sewage systems for 30 years. They’ve had all the funding.

They’re now turning around and, even more contemptuously, suggesting that they now want to put up customers’ bills by £10 billion to cover up and pay for their failure. It’s their greed and their bloody profiteering and their own incompetence that’s created the situation.

For me, it seems like this investment clearly hasn’t been approved by [the regulator] Ofwat. So it’s money that doesn’t even exist until it’s approved. It’s £10 billion over seven years. That’s £1.42 billion a year divided between nine main sewage companies. That’s £158.7 million a year.

Let me remind you that between April and September last year, Thames Water declared they had made £493.5 million in profit. The sector still managed to find a way to pay themselves £1.4 billion in dividends last year. So tell me again: is this an apology?

I’ve heard no apology for the billions they’ve made off with [in dividends and profits], the £60 billion worth of debt they’re in. I’ve heard no apology for the absolutely desperate state these rivers are now in because of their actions over the past 30 years. And I see absolutely nothing that actually looks like a plan.

Five of them have now given up their bonuses. Having spent three years dumping 7.5 million hours’ worth of sewage into our rivers, I don’t think you’re entitled to a bonus anyway.

The government, Ofwat and the companies now need to publish the strategy over the next five, ten, 15 years about exactly who’s going to be doing what, who’s going to be held accountable for it, who’s going to deliver it, who’s going to end up paying for it. How much pain the water companies are going to feel? How much are their shareholders going to put up? Who’s going to do something to rein in all of these limited bonuses?

This doesn’t stop until it’s fixed. And it’s a long, long way from being fixed.

It’ll be shown at events throughout the summer.

(Is this one of Alison Hernandez’ ideas? Owl hopes Neil Parish will behave himself!)

Devon and Cornwall Police have revealed the latest addition to their fleet in a bid to spread awareness of rural crime.

Radio Exe News www.radioexe.co.uk

 The tractor is being leant to the force (courtesy: Devon and Cornwall Police)

A tractor has been leant to them by local agricultural and turf dealership Mason Kings and will be at across the region at agricultural shows and other events throughout the summer.

The force says the rural affairs team will use the new vehicle to raise awareness of the support it can give to those who are concerned and effected about issues such as agricultural plant, GPS and livestock theft.

Police constable Clarke Orchard said: “A huge part of our job is to connect to and be visible in our rural and agricultural communities.

“We work with local police neighbourhood teams to tackle rural crime and anti-social behaviour anywhere in our counties.

“Whilst this vehicle won’t be used operationally, it will be seen at various shows across the region, sparking conversations with farmers, highlighting crime prevention strategies, and engaging with those who might not interact with police teams normally.”

The tractor is making its debut at the Devon County Show.

Tory run Devon County is still cutting services to rural communities (and don’t mention the potholes). – Owl

Devon’s mobile library service is to be scrapped because the county council says it can no longer afford to run it.

Philippa Davies www.midweekherald.co.uk

The council currently has four library vehicles, adapted for people with mobility or hearing problems, that visit 374 locations across Devon every month. In East Devon these include Sidford, Salcombe Regis, Beer, East Budleigh, Lympstone, West Hill, Cranbrook, Whimple, Feniton, Offwell and many other communities outside the district’s main towns.

But the vehicles – three of which are 15 years old – have become unreliable and expensive to maintain, and the county council says it cannot afford to replace them.

A consultation on the termination of the service is open until Friday, May 26, but it seems that the decision has already been made and the council is inviting suggestions on how people could access library services without the mobile vehicles.

Devon County Council says there has been a steep fall in the number of people using its mobile libraries – a decrease of 44 per cent in the last 10 years. Its figures show there were more than 161,000 loans from mobile libraries in 2012, with 5,546 active members, compared to around 51,000 loans in 2022 with 3,080 active members.

But Paul Sandy, a regular user of the mobile library service, says these figures are misleading. He has discovered that in 2012 there were eight library vehicles, presumably providing a much fuller service. The reduction to four vans in 2013-14 would have cut the number of users.

He also highlights the county council’s own statement that collectively, its library vehicles were off the road for 670 hours last year, largely because of ‘vehicle issues and maintenance’, making it impossible to provide a reliable service. This would also have reduced user numbers.

Mr Sandy said: “Worryingly, the proposal seems to take no account of the social impact of ending the mobile service, where people in small and often isolated rural communities have a reason to get out of the house to meet once a month. In addition, it is well known that many of those who visit the library borrow books for mobility-impaired or housebound friends, neighbours and relations to read. Thus the ‘active user’ count is certain to be significantly less than the number that benefit from the service.”

He is also concerned that the council does not seem to have looked into other options, such as leasing library vans instead of buying new ones or seeking grants and sponsorship to fund the service.

The county council’s rationale for ending the service, and the consultation document, can be found here:

https://www.devon.gov.uk/haveyoursay/document/mobile-libraries/