Villagers have been told by the council they will have to pay more than £70,000 to fix potholes on the only road leading to their homes and garages.

Whitebarns Lane in Furneux Pelham, Hertfordshire, connects the main road to a cul-de-sac where many people live in social housing.

Local resident Sarah Wright said villagers were told it would cost £73,000 to repair the road, where elderly people and schoolchildren were injured after falling.

Hertfordshire County Council He said he understood and sympathized with residents’ frustration, but said Whitebarns Lane was and always had been a public footpath, not a road.

Ms Wright said Whitebarns Lane had never been adopted by the council, despite being the only access route to about 30 homes.

The adopted road is a private road taken over by a local authority and currently maintained at public expense.

He said the situation was unique in Hertfordshire, where the cul-de-sac and main road were adopted but no lanes were used.

In 2016 the council told residents it would cost them £73,000 to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

Ms Wright said some residents found it “scary” and some were crying on her doorstep saying there was no way they could find the money.

“It’s a matter of money… if the council agrees to this they will have to provide roads, drainage and lighting, which I think is expensive, but we need fit-for-purpose access to the main highway,” he said.

He said older residents should be able to walk to the church, village hall, local shop and bus stop.

Ms Wright said the road would remain full of potholes until the council accepted its “moral responsibility”.

The condition of the road has been an issue for the last 60 years and Ms Wright said about every 20 years residents had to fight the council “for a service they should have always automatically had”.

Nearly 300 people signed the petition calling for the road to be made fit for its purpose.

The council said: “It could potentially be possible to adopt Whtebarns Lane as a public road, but only if the landowner or residents living on the lane can bring it up to an acceptable standard.

“We have offered to contribute to the cost of the necessary work.

“In the meantime, we will continue to maintain Whitebarns Lane as a public footpath.”