Viral attraction ‘Pothole Land’ closes after council repairs roads

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Pothole Land – a local ‘attraction’ that gained international attention due to the state of its roads – has officially closed after the council undertook road repairs.

Wrexham Council have denied that the repairs were a response to the viral social media campaign, however.

‘Pothole Land’ – made up of the roads in Glyn Ceirog, Wrexham – was liked and shared hundreds of times across Facebook, X, Instagram and Tiktok, attracting media attention from across the world.

Viral campaign

The roads saw huge gaping potholes open up after a winter of heavy rain, ice and snow, prompting a viral online campaign by residents of Glyn Ceirog.

Some of the worst potholes in the area have now been filled in, but Wrexham Council leader Mark Pritchard cautioned against the idea that ‘going viral’ was the way to get things done in the county borough.

The council have insisted that works were scheduled to take place in mid-January before the mock theme park came to prominence.

“We don’t cave in to pressure – if we did you’d have anarchy,” he said. “We have a reinstatement programme for potholes based on depth and priority.”

“We have changed the priority list, where previously a higher proportion of funding was committed to strategic roads, now we have made it 50/50 between strategic roads and community roads.

“That does mean not all strategic roads will be done but we have to get the balance right.”

According to Wrexham’s deputy leader, Cllr Dave Bithell, the works carried out were on the Environment department’s schedule.

“It is difficult getting the balance right but the works in Glyn Ceiriog were planned,” he said. “It’s an area that has suffered landslides, adverse weather, floods, there are ongoing issues in Glyn Ceiriog that we are trying to solve but it’s not nice for anyone.”

Sympathy

Cllr Pritchard admitted seeing the humorous side of the campaign, but said he had to take it seriously.

“I do sympathise with the local member Cllr Trevor Bates and the residents of Glyn Ceiriog, as I sympathise with lots of residents across Wrexham whose roads are not what they should be.”

“A lot of things across Wales have been neglected because of financial circumstances and roads are one of them.”

“It would be lovely if instead of a temporary fix, we were able to resurface some of these roads completely, but we haven’t got the money. So we do the best we can.”

He added: “The answer isn’t with the local council. The answer is with central government. Westminster and Cardiff need to fund us correctly, that’s the answer.”

“We’re caught up in the middle of this because we don’t have the right amount of money.”

Cllr Pritchard warned that “Pothole Land may have closed but it could open up again with the inclement weather we have to deal with. But I’d like to thank the Environment Department for all they do, working tirelessly to maintain our roads on a day-to-day basis.”