Our iconic high street is a MESS after bungling council ripped up granite cobbles & replaced them with blob of tarmac
Emergency repair work to fix a water leak in Canterbury, Kent, resulted in the ripping up of granite setts, locals say.
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One section in Burgate Street has now been replaced with black asphalt - which has been described as a mess by disgruntled residents.
Clive Bowley, 73, from the Canterbury Society says he heard about the unappealing repairs last week after complaints from other locals.
The resident, who works as an architect restoring historic buildings, says it is becoming a pattern in the town with other traditional streets also seeing tarmac patches.
He said: "It was brought to our attention by people complaining. I just thought 'oh not again.' It was depressing.
"The problem is that service engineers have to go in to do necessary work and they don't reinstate the ground properly afterwards.
"There is just a great big patch replaced by tarmac. It is a bit of a mess really. They have done a botched job."
Photos show several repairs across the city centre, which has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Clive, who has lived in Canterbury for over 40 years, says that if these streets aren't restored soon then the historic feel will be ruined.
Clive said: "It is all about civic pride really. If things are botched up then it looks a mess and seems like people don't care. It gradually will look more and more scruffy as time goes on.
"Burgate is one of the streets that leads down into the heart of a historic area. So, all that end of town is a conservation area and is of special heritage interest.
"If they are not put right in due course the town will gradually become a pit of all sorts of patches."
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Clive claims that he has complained to Kent County Council about the tarmac, and that they have claimed it will be fixed soon.
However, he says that many locals believe the unique road materials are now in landfill- and they feel that repairs will be impossible.
He said: "The council said that they would press the water company to do it properly. But similar things have happened around the town that were never fixed- so we are a little skeptical.
"The other concern is that they have dug up all these specialist materials and we don't know what has happened to them. If the granite setts are thrown away, then we won't be able to get more because they are unique.
"Every material used is unique, so you can't just go to the builders' merchants and buy more. My skeptical nature suggests that they probably dumped them."
The water mains repairs were completed by South East Water, who insist that this quick fix is only temporary, and say that they will begin restoration next week.
Nick Bell, of South East Water, said: "We're sorry to customers in the Canterbury area who have been left upset at the current appearance of the interim surface laid following urgent repairs to the burst water main in Burgate.
"This is not the finished reinstatement, but our priority was to backfill the excavation quickly to allow the road to be reopened, rather than prolonging the road closure.
"We have ordered the necessary materials to complete the permanent reinstatement, which involves re-setting the granite cobbles to their original condition.
"We will be carrying out this work from Thursday, 28 August, and we'll work as quickly as possible to minimise the impact locally and restore the road to its original condition."
A spokesman for Kent County Council said that the emergency works were to fix a leak, with the need to reopen the road as quickly as possible.
But the authority says the company is obliged to reinstate the road to its original surface within six months.
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