A RUNDOWN town centre street plagued with complaints has been included in a hit-list of roads branded as the “worst in Essex”.

South Street in Manningtree is described as a “patchwork quilt” of bumps and emergency repairs that have left it as an embarrassment to the market town.

Essex County Council has highlighted the road as one of the 700 worst in the county and earmarked an extra £17.5million towards repairs.

County councillor Carlo Gugleilmi said he was delighted the poor state of the road had been recognised.

“The road is awful, part of it looks like an unadopted road, it’s dreadful,” he said.

South Street is the only road in Manningtree to be included in the list.

It is joined by Stourview Avenue in Mistley, Clayton Road in Ramsey, Orchard Close in Ramsey and Portland Crescent in Dovercourt.

John Brown, who has lived in Clayton Road for about 35 years, said: “We’ve been waiting for 12 years for this to happen, so I’m pleased to hear it will be fixed."

There are 51 roads in total across the Tendring district on the list.