Suffolk County Council is being urged to get on top of maintenance issues in Bury St Edmunds – including dirty signs, potholes and broken paving slabs.

Ed Smith, a retired 66-year-old of Bury’s Westley Road, has called “time’s up” after reporting various issues about the western side of the town for some two years.

Green Suffolk county councillor Mark Ereira has also been in contact with Steve Boor, west area highways manager at the county council, in an attempt to spark action.

Tonight at a full council meeting, Mr Ereira will be asking Graham Newman, cabinet member for roads and transport at Suffolk County Council, whether the council has “got a grip on timely routine maintenance eg repairing pavements, cleaning road signs and making roads safe in our towns and villages in Suffolk?”

Mr Ereira said there was a “crisis” in Bury with very dirty signs everywhere. “I’m keen to push the council to achieve what they should be achieving for those who are already paying their council tax,” he added.

Mr Smith said: “We are happy to live here, it’s a nice place, but it’s getting tatty.”

He said some improvements had been carried out, but there was a “terrible amount outstanding”.

He feels the residential areas are being neglected compared to the town centre where the tourists go, but also that people should get involved in tidying up their areas.

Mr Newman said the extremely wet winter had taken a “severe toll on the condition of our roads”.

He said: “We are working closely with our contractor to eliminate the backlog of repairs and to ensure that the standards set out in the Highway Maintenance Operational Plan are achieved.”

He added the “summer surface dressing programme,” to get the roads in the best state possible to withstand this winter, will get under way next week.

A spokesman for the borough council said its contractor had a programme for clearing weeds in Bury, adding work to tackle them in Starre Road had been hampered by the wet weather.