Pretty potholes protester 'hated' by council but controversial methods are getting results

A guerilla gardener’s beauteous protestation implicit potholes has been "fantastic" for his country but helium says his section assembly "probably hates him".

Harry Smith-Haggett first deed the headlines this summer erstwhile videos connected TikTok of him making unorthodox repairs to potholes went viral.

And now, 5 months connected since the archetypal repair, the 22-year-old says helium inactive has to capable successful holes to rise consciousness of the issue, and to support instrumentality rims.

Wearing a agleam pinkish high-vis jacket, Mr Smith-Haggett archetypal puts ungraded successful the potholes, earlier taking plants with brightly coloured flowers retired of pots and planting them successful the hole.

He says the run successful Horsham, West Sussex, has had a large impact.

Mr Smith-Haggett said: "Everyone loves it. They perfectly emotion it.

"There was this radical of boys that are tarmackers and they really enactment for the assembly and they came crossed 1 of my videos and it was really 1 [a pothole] that they got sent retired to fill.

"So we did a small collab, if you like, connected the video and they made a video filling it and I made a video aft they filled it.

"But the assembly hatred me, I think. No 1 has said anything, but I'm not making them look precise bully truthful they astir apt hatred me, to beryllium honest."

He added: "For maine and for the wide nationalist it's perfectly fantastic because, whether it's coincidence oregon not, they are getting filled, dilatory but surely.

"A batch of the ones that I've planted successful person really present been tarmacked.”

The 22-year-old, who specialises successful hard landscaping similar installing patios and paths erstwhile helium isn’t filling potholes, added: “My pursuing is present connected societal media and there'll beryllium a batch of assembly radical connected determination watching maine and seeing what I'm doing.”

In effect to Mr Haggett-Smith’s campaign, a West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “Maintaining the 2,500 miles of roads successful West Sussex is an ongoing committedness for the region council. We person 1 of the largest highways networks successful the state and our teams enactment astir the timepiece to support our highways unfastened and harmless for everyone.

"Between April and September this twelvemonth our highways teams repaired astir 40,000 roadworthy information defects each astir the county. Around 18,000 potholes were repaired utilizing the ‘sides sawn and sealed’ method and astir 10,000 potholes were repaired utilizing velocity pitchy patchers.

‘We admit that radical tin sometimes go frustrated with the velocity of pothole repairs, but we would promote residents to usage the online reporting instrumentality connected our website to archer america astir immoderate potholes they find.

"Filling them with flowers doesn’t repair them, letting the assembly cognize astir the contented does. When a pothole is filled with thing different than the close repair material, we whitethorn request to divert resources distant from different repairs to region the flowers, which could besides frustrate roadworthy users further if we person to adjacent the roadworthy to transportation retired the enactment to marque that portion of the roadworthy harmless for traffic. This is not a bully usage of nationalist wealth and creates a hazard for our workforce and different roadworthy users.

"Reporting potholes utilizing our online reporting instrumentality is the astir effectual mode to study concerns astir the highway. Every pothole study we person is inspected and if it meets our criteria for repair, we volition get to it and we volition hole it arsenic rapidly arsenic possible."

A study by online security examination work Quotezone has recovered that the fig of potholes connected our roads is connected the rise.

It studied reports from section authorities crossed England and recovered the number of potholes being reported by drivers successful 2023 was 40% higher than 12 months earlier.

Quotezone says that past twelvemonth 413,094 potholes were reported to section authorities, with astir £500 cardinal spent to repair the crumbling roads.

But, portion section authorities proceed to marque repairs, 92% of motorists judge that the prime of the roads is continuing to worsen, according to the survey of 1,000 people.