£150,000 road surface at Southampton's Guildhall Square 'an embarrassment'

Council chiefs are being urged to carry out urgent work to the section of Above Bar outside the new arts complex that was only laid four years ago.

It was part of the £4.6million revamp of Guildhall Square that scooped design awards after being completed in 2010.

But just 18 months after it was completed, large parts of the road began to fall away, leaving its surface uneven and bumpy to drive over.

Now Cllr Royston Smith, who was leader of the council when the new Guildhall Square was completed, is calling for urgent action to prevent the problem getting any worse.

He said: “I have been asking for Above Bar Street to be repaired for over two years.

“There is no excuse.

“Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was invested in the Guildhall Square and in laying this road and it now one of the worst in the city.

“It is irrelevant who is to blame, the city council should sort it out and then take legal action if it is appropriate to recover the money.

“It is quite frankly an embarrassment.”

The city council says safety repairs are being carried out to the road to make it safe, but ultimately the responsibility and cost of repairing it will be given to contractor Aggregate Industries, who carried out the original work.

Council transport chief Jacqui Rayment said: “Investigations have been carried out to determine the reason for the failure.

“The contractor and designer of the scheme have been presented with these findings and are being tasked with correcting the road.”