ANGRY residents have accused the council of 'taunting' them by relaying part of their road and leaving the rest as a pot-holed dirt track.

Landscape Road, in Woodford Green, is one of 69 unadopted streets across the borough - many of them public rights of way - which the council has no responsibility to light, resurface or clean.

Neighbours complained last July that the situation has left their unlit road in a 'Third World' condition, with many residents forced to negotiate large water-filled potholes and cracks - despite paying the same level of council tax as other households across the borough.

But their frustration has now turned to outrage after the authority re-laid a small section it has responsibility for - which has just one house on it - and left the stretch in front of 10 other properties completely untouched.

Mum-of-two Louise Ware labelled the move 'unbelievably petty' after workmen ignored her pleas for the leftover asphalt to be used to fill in the gaping potholes in the rest of the street.

She said: "It's like the council is taunting us by doing this.

"They've done a lovely job of re-surfacing the part of the road they own and then stopping at our bit. It's like some kind of border line.

"They'll just say we bought these houses knowing this was an unadopted road, but we pay council tax and yet don't get our road fixed or any lighting.

"There are old people and young families living here and it's dangerous for them to walk down here in the dark.

"I complained to them about it but they just ignored me."

Under the old rates system, the state of a street was reflected in the rateable value of each property. However, there was no such dispensation with the poll tax, or with council tax. As a result, many residents feel they have paid many times over for services they have never received.

Resident Thok Johnson called on the council to explain exactly what he is paying council tax for.

He said: "We pay council tax and yet we don't get the same services as other people.

"You have to ask what we are getting out of this?

"It's like we're paying our money for nothing."

The council has yet to comment.