A PARISH council which has ‘run out of cash’ to fill potholes and carry out other minor roadworks is appealing to residents for ideas on what it should do to keep its roads maintained.

Clayhidon Parish Council, on the Blackdown Hills above Wellington, said Devon County Council had offered free tarmac, but the parish did not have any spare money to ‘pay for the amount of work needed to make a difference’.

Former parish chairman Cllr Alison Weekes said: “I am sure there are enough community-minded people who would like to help maintain our appalling roads.

“We have tampers and we have been lucky for years to have Chris Houghton as our parish lengthsman.

“He has the necessary training to shut roads temporarily for repairs.

“More and more parishes on the Blackdowns have followed our example of attempting to do some of our own repairs, and some are now using teams of volunteer road wardens.

“When we began filling in the small potholes, the only ones the parish is allowed to do, there was some opposition because, of course, we already pay for this work to be done by Devon County Council.

“But, every single road in Clayhidon is in the lowest category of roads, and are therefore in the lowest category on the list for repairs.

“Highways do very occasionally respond to requests to fill deep potholes, but residents have to keep reminding them with photographs and online requests.

“And they will do one, and ignore others.”

Cllr Weekes said sometimes the contractors travelled from Barnstaple to do the work because ‘the system’ was a ‘financial nonsense’.

She did not believe a proposed reorganisation of local authorities in Devon would make ‘the slightest difference’.

Cllr Weekes said: “We have to help ourselves before some of our lanes become impossible to drive.

“Already, some people take longer routes to get to Hemyock.

“Personally, I have had five punctures this year (2025).

“But, the parish council is out of cash.”

Cllr Weekes said although the parish council was supposed to maintain 100 per cent of its precept amount as reserves, it had not done so for some years.

She said some residents, might say councillors should use the reserves of the John Griss Charitable Trust to meet the costs, while others would consider it was a parish council responsibility.

However, Cllr Weekes said the charity’s constitution ruled out using money in that way.

Cllr Weekes said: “Others rightly point out that drainage and work on verges should be a priority and is, of course, what the highways staff used to do.

“But now, they do not, and they deny any responsibility for culverts, too.

“The parish council has been complaining about several blocked drains for years.

“Driving has become a nightmare for us all, and it should not be.

“There does not seem to be any way of this improving without taking local action.”

Cllr Weekes said the council, which next meets on Monday (January 12) wanted to hear from local people what they thought councillors should do.