SURREY County Council has confirmed it will repair a "larger area" of Tanners Lane, after its re-patching works were compared to the streets of 2,000-year-old Pompeii.

Resident Martin James took to Facebook with comparison pictures of the works which caught the attention of locals.

Lorna Stuart commented: "Surrey county - you should take notice of what the people of Surrey think. Invest more to last longer."

One resident also pointed out the number of patches - 33 were counted - and said there was "more patch than road at this point".

Surrey county councillor for Haslemere John Robini - who visited the site on Tuesday - said Tanners Lane had "obviously had repairs over the recent years" and it "looks as though most of these were utility companies repairing their structures under the surface, then laying a surface over these repairs".

He confirmed he had plans to speak with a highways engineer, and would "ask for this road to be included in any future programme".

A Surrey County Council spokesperson confirmed: "While some of the patching repairs are utility trenches/patches, some are likely to also be small patches carried out by our highway safety team which are pot holes/defects highlighted by our highways inspectors.

"These repairs are only to the immediate defect are and we are bound to repair as per out safety matrix."

The county council’s website confirms reports of damage to roads are investigated, with the council working to "establish if the problem is hazardous to road users or not".

The spokesperson confirmed: "The council has a year-round programme under the Capital Safety Defect Programme that targets areas such as this, where defects are found and we repair a larger area to rectify this.

"The programme is compiled from sites are highlighted to us from the highways inspectors and our highway engineers".

The authority confirmed the Tanners Lane site had been "put forward" to be included on the programme with work currently scheduled for September 16.