A new road surface on a key stage of The Grand Depart route is “a mess” and has made matters worse, claims a local councillor.

A 100-yard stretch of Changegate, at the top of Main Street in Haworth, was resurfaced on Friday with disappointing results, said ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen.

“It is now so lumpy and bumpy that if I were a cyclist, I’d rather ride along Changegate as it was before they put down a new layer of tarmac,” she said. “I’d say it was a mess – if I was being polite. No-one knew they were coming to do the road and all that was done was to put down a new layer without first stripping it back to the ironwork.”

She added that as the asphalt had been placed over the existing surface, it is now higher than the pavement in some places.

“I’ve been contacted by a lady who lives on this street who is really worried about flooding,” she added. “There’s now nowhere else for the water to drain except into her property. And the new surface is so poor, there are gaps all over and holes appearing in it already,” said Coun Poulsen. Stanbury Parish Council chairman Coun John Huxley also hit out at recent “appalling” work to fill in pot holes in Brow Road, saying the steep road was now even bumpier than before.

He added: “These potholes needed doing, and I accept that there are budgetary constraints, but I can’t believe how badly this has been done. It looks like they’ve just poured the material in and not rolled it.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “The work has been carried out in preparation for the Tour de France, so that the roads are in a suitable condition for the event.

“Changegate in Haworth is part of the Grand Depart route, but Brow Road is not. This section of road needed resurfacing anyway. We have just brought forward this essential work. We have used micro asphalt which needs a few weeks to bed in. We will also be giving it another sweep soon. After that it will look much better. The only setts that are on Changegate are those that are underneath the old tarmac road surface. It may be that some of these were visible because the road had failed in areas and had exposed what was underneath. We do not have any concerns about flooding where the asphalt is reported to be higher than the pavement, but will look into this.”