MANOR Royal's "atrocious" roads had £300,000 of investment fast-tracked after the county council's leader was urged to check the state of them for herself - and there is more to follow.
Pressure for work to be brought forward came from Manor Royal Business Improvement District (BID), which was set up in July last year to improve the area.
In the past few months the group, which is made up of the 500-plus businesses within the district, has successfully argued its case for urgent repairs to be made to roads including Fleming Way, Manor Royal and Gatwick Road.
A number of huge potholes have been filled in – but only after West Sussex County Council leader Louise Goldsmith was shown around the district so she could see for herself the state of the roads.
Steve Sawyer, Manor Royal BID's executive director, explained that the roads had been "atrocious", adding that there is still a lot of work to be done to bring them up to the standard they should be.
He said: "We have successfully highlighted to the county council the need for investment in Manor Royal's roads.
"As a result they have brought forward planned works in Manor Royal and Fleming Way by two years.
"Some of the worst potholes have been done – if you compare those to the ones that are left.
"Those that are left are still pretty big so you can imagine what the others were like."
In the current financial year - 2014/15 - Wheatstone Close is due to be resurfaced, and further repairs will be carried out on Fleming Way, at the Fleming Way/Gatwick Roundabout and on Gatwick Road.
Mr Sawyer estimates the BID has brought about £1 million of investment already, partly money put forward by businesses and partly because there has been better dialogue with the county council.
Other forthcoming improvements include a pedestrian crossing at one end of Fleming Way so that employees can safely get to Tesco Express on the other side of London Road.
That will be paid for by the county council and will be installed within the next year.
A system of CCTV cameras, funded by the BID, is being installed across the district in the coming months with work starting today (Thursday).
And a new park, called Crawter's Brook, is being created and is expected to be open by mid August.
Mr Sawyer said: "The county council can't engage with 500 businesses so what this BID has done is provide a point of contact which represents all of those businesses."
Peter Smith, Crawley Borough Council's newly appointed cabinet member for planning and economic development, has been campaigning for improvements to Manor Royal's roads for years.
He hailed the sudden rapid progress but added that it is the "result of concerted action over quite some time by quite a few people and the extra impetus that the BID has brought".
"The key thing to note is that West Sussex have shown they are capable of repairing roads and repairing them nicely," he added.
"What they do need to do is bring forward a programme of maintenance."
A council spokeswoman said the cost of the next set of roadworks is being assessed and the work will then be scheduled.
![Scores of potholes filled in as £300,000 is spent on Manor Royal's]( "Scores of potholes filled in as £300,000 is spent on Manor Royal's")
