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Residents of the peaceful Fat Hogs Quarters, the community better known today as St Simon, in Hanover, are pleading for better roads on which to traverse, as the existing thoroughfares are unbearable and need urgent attention.

Ava Reid, an active community member, said the condition of the roads leaves much to be desired, and that they have been like this for several years, despite being located just three miles outside Hanover's capital, Lucea.

"This is where I was born and raised and with each passing day, the bad roads are being made worse by persistent rainfall and continuous neglect by those with authority to fix them," Reid said.

She told WESTERN STAR that the residents and motorists are miserable.

"In this community, we are served by regular taxi operators and persons with motorbikes who provide transportation services to and from the community. They are themselves being impacted by the pothole-riddled road network," she said.

Another resident of the community, Kenley Hamilton, a tiler, can't wait for the roads to be fixed.

"The road leading to the St Simon Primary and St Simon Infant schools are miserable bad; Hamilton said.

"The teachers are not from the area but when they get to the community for work, they are forced to walk from the square up the treacherous pathways towards the schools, because the taxi drivers refuse to traverse that rugged roadway."

Easton Edwards, councillor for the Lucea division at the Hanover Municipal Corporation, said that he is actively working to correct the issues facing the community.

'Bad' is too mild a term to describe it (St Simon road). We are trying to get it rehabilitated through the Ministry of Agriculture because it is a farm road, although it falls under the portfolio of the National Works Agency," he said.

Edwards said that St Simon's road is on his priority list, but he is awaiting a response from the agriculture ministry, having written to the minister some time ago, outlining the deplorable condition of that stretch of road.

As for the water situation, Edwards said he is aware of the need to have regular and reliable water supply into the community.

However, he said that he has approached the National Water Commission on the matter.

"We will now need to do a follow-up letter, and to engage the responsible officers and the residents of the community in a meeting to look at the way forward for potable water," he said.