A PUBLIC petition to the House of Commons calling for the improved maintenance of local roads has been launched by the MP for Torridge and West Devon.

The state of the roads around the constituency is an issue that has been raised repeatedly with Conservative Geoffrey Cox.

On being re-elected in May, Mr Cox said his first campaign would be to tackle the ‘state’ of rural roads, some of which he described as ‘riverbeds’.

He said this week: “While we have seen welcome investment and proposals come forward for major routes, I believe that our rural roads have been overlooked and have been allowed to fall into a state of serious disrepair.

“The petition therefore declares that Parliament and the Government have an obligation to ensure that those living in rural areas are not at a disadvantage when it comes to the maintenance of the roads network and that more needs to be done to tackle the problems of poor road surface quality and to make pothole repairs.

“I hope that by gathering as much support as possible we will be able to send a strong signal to Government ministers that action needs to be taken to support local authorities.”

In order to spread the word Mr Cox has written to all local parish councils and interested groups in the constituency to encourage them to join the campaign and get involved in helping collect signatures.

A copy of the petition is also available for download on his website www.geoffreycox.co.uk

The deadline for signing the petition and returning it to his parliamentary office is November 20 2015.