We're having to contend with a 1920s network of main roads in Burnley | Express letters

It was gratifying that your correspondent, David Connor, agreed with much of what I wrote two weeks ago about the Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) record on highways works and road conditions generally.

I would concede, to him, that it is not only LCC Highways that are to blame. They are supposed to be regulated by our county councillors who have signally failed to ensure that the services provided by their officers is up to standard. As Mr Connor pointed out, some of our County Councillors are also members of Burnley BC. However, if I remember correctly Burnley has only six County Councillors, at County Hall, out of over 80 members. Similarly, Burnley Borough Council, which is supposed to work with the LCC, does not appear to have made its views known on the current and long-term failings of the LCC, particularly in relation to highway and traffic problems in Burnley and the North-east of the County.

These go back many years. For example, at a time when road transport has increased very considerably, Burnley has not seen the construction of a new road in over 50 years. I know that the M65 has been constructed within that period but this was not an LCC scheme. The M65 was built, and paid for, by central government, though I would (again) concede that some funding has come from the LCC and still does so. Mind you, that the M65 remains unfinished, coming to an unceremonious full stop west of Colne is the fault of the LCC. This renders that town one of the worst traffic bottlenecks that I know and the roads to the east of Colne far busier that they would have been if the M65 had been extended towards Leeds and Bradford, as was the original intention.

All of Burnley’s main roads were constructed before 1974, the year in which the town ceased to be a Highway Authority. These include Colne Road, which, for much of its length, has only one lane in either direction. In some parts of the road the LCC has reduced its width, as it has on Eastern Avenue and other important roads in the town. Barden Lane – part in Burnley and part in Pendle – is one of the least well-maintained roads in the area. The same applies to parts of Ridge Avenue, the upper part of Ormerod Road, parts of Queen Victoria Road and sections of Brunshaw Road.

The road from Worsthorne to Haggate is one of the worst roads upon which I have had to drive. If you don’t believe me, inspect parts of Extwistle Road, in Worthorne, the approach to Cockden Bridge, from Worsthorne, the condition of the bridge over the river Don and much of the road between there and Haggate.

In Burnley we are still having to contend with a 1920s network of main roads. My grandfather is on record as warning the then Burnley Council that both the inner and outer ring roads were inadequate even at the time of their construction. Since then, the LCC has cut back on schemes to make improvements to both of and has also not constructed the planned road which was intended to connect the roundabouts at Gannow to Curzon Street, a major mistake in my opinion. What they did was build the road which connected Heysham to the M6, a road in the favoured west of the County.

Mr Connor criticises what I wrote last week about roads in Blackburn. He concedes that there are some good roads in that town but there are other problems in Blackburn which are apparently more important. However, I would like to remind Mr Connor that my letter was about roads and not the other services provided by local authorities. And, by the way, though many people have supported what I contributed to the Burnley Express two weeks ago, who do you think has remained silent? Why, the LCC, of course. Need In say more?