THE STATE of the Forest's roads was the key issue for voters in the Gloucestershire County Council elections say many of the area's new county councillors.

They claim it was a major factor as electors punished the Conservatives, who had controlled the county council, in last week's polls.

At the last election four years the Conservatives took eight of the nine seats in the Forest – now they are left with two of eight councillors on the redrawn map.

But while Independent, Labour and UKIP winners were saying that potholes were a big issue, the man who hopes to retain the roads brief in the new administration at Shire Hall – Councillor Will Windsor-Clive – defended the county's record.

Independent Norman Stephens who won the Mitcheldean division said: "It was definitely local issues that were the big concern and particularly the state of the roads.

"It is ludicrous that you have a system where two men paint white lines around a pothole and then you have to wait for someone else to come along and fill it in.

"I'm in favour of 'first fix' where the hole is repaired straight away instead of being left."

Councillor Paul McMahon, who won Coleford for Labour, said: "It was all about local issues, people wanted their town back.

"Parking and potholes and the state of the roads were the big issues."

UKIP's Alan Preest who won in Lydney said he wanted to see a map in the town council offices with every pothole marked on it.

He said: "The state of the roads was mentioned all the time, it was a big issue.

"I want to see a map in the council offices with every pothole marked on it so we know precisely what the problems are and where they are."

Councillor Windsor-Clive said national issues such as gay marriage and the badger cull were uppermost in the minds of the voters he spoke to.

He said: "I don't think the roads lost us the election. Over the last eight years more money has gone into roads and independent surveys have shown that there has been improvement.

"We have six extra gangs around the county – one for each district – working on potholes.

"There have been problems because of the weather which made it difficult to repair the potholes. Last summer was very wet and you can't fix potholes when the weather is like that."

Back at the beginning of March the Review (see photo) highlighted the issue of potholes with at least one Forest garage reporting that it was selling more shock absorbers and coil springs than ever because of the state of the roads.

A Blakeney resident, who had just had shock absorbers replaced for the second time over the winter, said: "There are some very bad examples but the picture is bad right across the Dean."