IRATE householder Tony Webster has blasted highway planners for acting like “Monty Python sketchwriters” after white road markings were repainted but long neglected potholes ignored.

“I just couldn’t believe it, the one job that desperately needed doing, the potholes, they didn’t do, and the one they really didn’t need to do, the white lines, were lavishly repainted. It was ridiculous,” said Mr Webster who lives in Winton Road, Northallerton.

He said there have been concerns over the potholes towards the end of Winton road, near the junction with Turker Lane over several winters with repairs carried out at one stage which did not last.

"Then last week I left the house and saw two wagons from North Yorkshire County Council. I thought great they will be doing the potholes. However when I returned a couple of hours later they hadn’t touched them at all but they had done the road markings, they were all shiny and white.

“It is unbelievable, the planning decision meetings of North Yorkshire highways must be like watching a rehearsal for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. What would possess you to reline the road markings and not do the pot holes, it is the decision making process that is truly baffling."

The county council said the potholes had been inspected on the day they were contacted in connection with Mr Webster’s complaint and they are monitoring them.

Mr Webster added: "This is a regular daily bus route and a busy road, and it is a problem for vehicles, it makes no sense at all. I am sure there are other potholes throughout the county which are worse than the ones in Winton road, it is the sheer nonsense of the fact that they whitened the lines, where is the joined up thinking?"

The county council spokesman said: “This section of road is inspected once a year. The last one was in June when two actionable defects were found. A pothole was filled in and junction markings refreshed.

“On the previous three occasions no actionable defects were found. The road was further inspected today and we will continue to monitor it under the terms of our highways safety inspection policy.’’

North Yorkshire was awarded an extra £3m by the Department for Transport earlier in the year for road repairs and in July the authority earmarked a further £3m themselves to help repair roads battered over the winter and spring to combat the plague of potholes.