Potholes made number one priority for residents

Residents say the state of local roads is a major concern, councillor have said

Potholes are the number one priority for Lancashire residents, councillors have heard.

Speaking at a Lancashire County Council meeting, councillor Scott Cunliffe said: "Fill in the potholes, fill in the potholes. That’s all people say."

The authority met to discuss how money should be spent following savings made after the government's controversial scrapping of the northern leg of the HS2 rail project.

Councillor Scott Smith, lead member for highways and active transport, said: “It is the top priority at every door you knock on, every resident you speak to.”

The Conservative added: “They want the potholes filled and the roads resurfaced."

Mr Cunliffe, who represents the Green Party, said: “So if we want to listen to residents and respond to them, we’re not going to spend it on sustainable transport, which might be my preference – we’re going to go for the potholes first.”

Lancashire is set for two streams of redirected HS2 cash over the next decade as part of the government’s Network North programme.

New roads

The council area has been promised a £244.5 million boost to its highways maintenance budget between 2023 and 2033.

Authorities in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are also set to get an additional £12.7 and £20.4 million respectively over the same period.

Separately, Lancashire as a whole is due to receive the largest share across the north and midlands from the government’s Local Transport Fund.

The county council has been told it will be given £494 million between 2025 and 2032, with Blackpool getting £120.8 million and Blackburn receiving £116.9 million.

The fund is intended for major highways and transport schemes such as building new roads or upgrading railway stations, rather than repairing potholes.

Twenty-two schemes have been allocated £7.2 million so far from the county council’s extra highways maintenance funding but none of them are in the major conurbations of Preston, Chorley or Burnley.