Rogue drivers who use Braintree High Street illegally should be fined in order to pay for the road’s repairs, a frustrated resident has claimed.

Don Trower, of Notley Road, Braintree, said a rethink was needed over the road’s maintenance with it becoming more rundown by the day.

He believes says road is still being treated as a “light-duty” pedestrian route despite the fact it is used by heavy goods vehicles, buses and unauthorised through traffic at all times of the day.

The road is a pedestrian zone and technically barred to all traffic except buses and deliveries.

Despite this, many drivers flout the rules and use it as a short cut or to avoid congestion.

Mr Trower said: “The repairs need to be carried out by an organisation that will treat this project as a real road and not as some light duty pedestrian walk-way, which is why the underlying surface is so prone to the damage that it has suffered since it was installed.

“This has been compounded by the heavy duty vehicles that use the High Street not only for deliveries and as a short cut, but also parking while the very staff that should be repairing the road in question are relaying a few paving slabs nearby.”

The state of Braintree town centre’s pavements has been concerning residents for many years.

In April 2016, Essex County Council started an urgent review into the footways and pedestrian areas.

Repairs were completed then and at regular intervals since, often in response to falls in the town.

However Mr Trower said a full-scale refit of the roads and pavements in the town, in particular the high street, was needed and he had come up with a novel way to fund the repairs.

He said: “If the council was to place an enforcement officer mid way along the high street for a few weeks and impose a fine for each of the many vehicles that use it as a shortcut across town, they will raise funds quickly enough.”

Mr Trower added: “Include issuing penalty fines for cyclists using the pavement in general as well as George Yard, and riding without lights at night, and we could easily fund the very first gold plated High Street in the country.”

The idea of complete pedestrianisation has been mooted before by many, including Braintree Council, but so far no concrete steps have been taken.

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: “We continue to carry out temporary repairs on the High Street in Braintree and have developed a longer-term scheme to improve the road and pavement, to prevent the need for so many repairs in future.

“However, we have to take account of Braintree Council’s intentions to re-generate the area, which will affect our plans going forward.”

Braintree Council is working on multi-million pound plans to redevelop the Manor Street area of the town.

A planning application, setting out further details of the scheme, is set to be submitted next month.