I AM writing in response to Charles Tweedy's "Road Warden" letter in the Crediton Courier on June 4.

How heart-warming to learn that Devon County Council has found a bold new solution to potholes: get the public to do the council’s job for free.

Apparently, if enough residents can be persuaded to stand in the road with a bucket of tarmac and a dream, we can solve the highways crisis without bothering the people actually responsible for highways.

I was especially delighted to see Crediton Town, District and County Councillor Jim Cairney (the local government equivalent of a bingo full house) alongside Crediton Mayor Steve Huxtable, bravely swanning off to Neopardy Hill to fill potholes in the hot weather.

Truly inspiring. Nothing says “serving Crediton” quite like leaving Crediton — a town where the main road has more holes than a Town Council budget explanation — to patch holes somewhere else.

Perhaps Crediton’s potholes were simply too ambitious. Some have their own microclimate. Several appear on Google Earth. At least one may soon be applying for listed status.

To be clear, all volunteers deserve thanks. They are not the problem. The problem is a system where council taxpayers fund a county council, then get invited to become unpaid road workers because the actual roads budget appears to have fallen into one of the craters it failed to repair.

What next? A “Surgery Warden Scheme”, where residents perform minor operations in the Tesco car park with equipment kindly supplied by the NHS?

A “Police Warden Scheme”, where we all take turns solving burglaries after lunch?

Or perhaps a “Council Warden Scheme”, where members of the public attend meetings, read the paperwork, make sensible decisions, and do the jobs our elected representatives seem to struggle with.

Crediton has serious road problems of its own. People drive, walk, cycle, and bounce along its main roads every day.

It would be nice if our representatives spent more time doing the councillor jobs they fought so hard to collect, and less time standing in the road with a shovel and a hi-vis vest for photo opportunities.

Gary Stanley

Queen Elizabeth Drive

Crediton