£4.4m pothole repair programme to be launched

There are thousands of potholes in Lancashire -  last month alone some 4,700 were found by council inspectors or reported by members of the public.
County Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in ChippingCounty Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in Chipping
County Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in Chipping

Now a new £4.4m programme of small scale and patching works is set to see some of those potholes repaired and sections of roads improved.

In January almost 6,000 potholes were found or reported on county highways.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tomorrow County Coun Keith Iddon, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, is due to be given the go-ahead to work with council officers to decide which smaller repair and improvement projects get the go-ahead and when work will be done.

County Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in ChippingCounty Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in Chipping
County Coun Keith Iddon observes a pothole repair in Chipping

The cash pot comprises an extra £2.4m allocated in March by central Government to help ease the county’s pothole problems, plus an earlier allocation of £1.2m from the Government’s Pothole Action Fund and £806,000 from the council.

Coun Iddon said: “We’re planning to use the extra money received from Government to do more maintenance to our roads in places where the surface is deteriorating and we’re having to make repeat visits to fix potholes.

“We’ll be doing a combination of small scale treatments depending on the nature of the problem, but one of the main things we’ll be looking to do is put large patches over damaged areas.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He continued: “We always have to focus on repairing the worst potholes quickly to keep our roads safe, but know people often complain when we fix a pothole but leave smaller defects in the surrounding area. The large patches will cover all of this damage and help to prevent potholes continuing to appear.”

The council had previously agreed that the earlier £2m funding would be spent on repairs across the county “on sections of roads in a condition which requires the most regular visits to keep them safe and serviceable.”

The policy meets the Department of Transport’s Pothole Action Fund criteria with proposed treatments including patching, surface dressing and resurfacing.

Cash from the Department of Transport must also be used to protect local roads from future severe weather.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This week’s cabinet meeting will be asked to apportion the latest £2.4m funding on the same basis.

In 2016/17 more than £7m was spent on repairing pothole problems and road defects in Lancashire..

The council says it will be working to bring roads into a better condition over the summer and Coun Iddon added: “We’ve still got a way to go to deal with the backlog of repairs, but the drier weather we’ve been having recently has allowed us to make good progress in fixing the damage caused over the winter, and we’re now finding fewer potholes than we were earlier in the year.”

Annual defects repaired including potholes2016/17 76,000 defects found2015/16 56,598 defects found2014/15 67,556 defects found

• Where do you think the cash should be spent? Is the council doing enough? Name your worst roads and send in photos to [email protected]

Related topics: