THRIFTY villages spotted an opportunity to repair a pot-holed street for just £45 when council workers started digging up a nearby road.

Residents in Newfield, near Bishop Auckland, took just nine hours to resurface West View, which has been in a state of disrepair for decades, using unwanted concrete.

Using two dumpers belonging to members of the group, they moved 60 tonnes of road planings and then spent time raking it out and rolling it flat.

Organiser Clive Topping said they could not have done the work without the help of Durham County Council’s highways department and Rainton Construction.

It is an unadopted road, which means that it is not maintained by the Highways Authority and the responsibility falls to the homeowners to look after it. Motorists claim the street is almost unusable as the pot-holes getting bigger each year.

“It would have cost about £1,000 if we had needed to pay for all the materials, but all we spent was £44.87 on diesel to run the dumpers and the roller,” said Mr Topping.

“We knew if we could get the road surface then we could do the work. The construction company put the road planings in Newfield’s club car park as they couldn’t access the road with their trucks. We then moved it from there ourselves.

“We also flattened the car park once we had moved it all.

“The road looks fantastic. It is great when you think about what we had to do it with. It has probably added about £10,000 to the price of the houses. Nobody asked us to do it, we just did. All the residents living there are really grateful.”

He added: “Newfield has got such community spirit. It really is the best. I have lived here all my life and it has always been like this. I wouldn’t change it.

“I want to thank everyone who helped out by picking up a shovel or a rake. This shows what a community can do if it pulls together.”

Led by Mr Topping, residents have also recently cleared an overgrown front garden.