£7m of taxpayers money spent in one year to repair pothole ridden roads

An investigation has found that Lancashire stands out head and shoulders in the north west, where a total of £7,138,452 had been spent by cash-strapped councils to repair road crevaces in the year of 2016 - the majority falling on the doormat of Lancashire County Council, which is responsible for roads in Fylde and Wyre.

A total of 79,284 of the road hazards were reported in Lancashire throughout 2016, totalling over 3,000 metres in depth; the equivalent of 66 per cent of all potholes reported in the north west (120,748) and measuring more than 18 and a half times the depth of the English Channel.

A spokesman from road experts the AA said: “This is a product of councils in the 1990s not spending their money on the roads that they should have done. This is the chicken coming home to roost.”

Successful compensation claims accounted for almost a quarter of all in the north west, with £29,075 issued to motorists, a decrease on 2014/15 figures where authorities paid £36,000 to motorists.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com - the organisation behind the figures - said: “If drivers experience a bump in the road, they should report it to their local council as soon as possible before the problem gets any worse.

“The cost of motoring alone is getting more and more expensive and damage repairs is a big contributor to this, as car parts increase in price as well.”

Blackpool Council spent £51,051 last year fixing potholes - and paid out just £96 in compensation - according to new figures.

A freedom of information request also found 188 potholes were reported to the council, measuring 1.5 metres in depth in total.

Coun Fred Jackson, cabinet member for highways on Blackpool Council, said the figures reflected the investment made in maintaining roads in the town.

In 2011, the council launched its Project 30 initiative which saw £30m spent in the folowing years repairing 40 miles of roads, as well as footpaths.

Coun Jackson said: “We are very proud in Blackpool of our record in reporting potholes.

“I know it is something residents get very upset about.

“We have a very strict assessment procedure we go through and this has worked in a very effective way.

“Project 30 saw £30m spent on repairing a lot of roads and footpaths where we had been subject to claims from people having accidents and tripping.

“That has been very successful in repairing defects in the roads and is having a lasting effect in many areas of the town.

“The claims from these kind of accidents have declined dramatically.”

In September, The Gazette reported how Lancashire County Council is cutting £45m in public spending but how the cash-strapped authority is pledging to invest more money in buses, road repairs and social services, with an extra £1m going to bus services and £3m to a resurfacing programme for residential roads.

Lancashire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, coun Keith Iddon, said: “Lancashire’s highways network is the biggest in the North West, over 4,400 miles in length, so it’s no surprise that we figure highly in a survey like this, however we also spend more to maintain them and prevent potholes appearing.

“We recognise how important roads are to our economy, ensuring people and goods can travel efficiently, and are investing a further £5m in highway maintenance this year on top of the funding we receive from the Department for Transport, adding up to a budget in excess of £24m for 2017/18.

“We expect to spend around £4m on repairs to potholes with the majority of the funding for planned maintenance which helps to prevent them in the first place. Our approach to road maintenance is based on using accurate survey data to ensure we carry out the right treatment at the right time to prevent them deteriorating to the stage where lots of potholes are appearing and more costly repairs are needed.”

How is a pothole formed?

Potholes begin after snow or rain seeps into the soil below the road surface. The moisture freezes when temperatures drop, causing the ground to expand and push the road up.

As the temperatures rise, the ground returns to normal level but the road often remains raised. This creates a gap between the pavement and the ground below it. When vehicles drive over this cavity, the pavement surface cracks and falls into the hollow space leading to the birth of another pothole.

What the experts say

The apparent disgregard for roads and their ongoing deterioriation should be of no shock to anybody, according to industry experts the AA.

An AA spokesman said: “The way to deal with potholes is to resurface roads but that has to duel problem attached to it. Councils will wait until the condition gets bad enough to resurface the whole strech and then have to have the money available to do so.

“What we are seeing is that councils are running out of money already before ther winter months. If they don’t find the money it starts hitting them in compensation claims.

“This is a product of councils in the 1990s not spending their money on the roads that they should have done. This is the chicken coming home to roost - they are caught between a rock and a hard place.

“The government has given emergency funding and will continue to have to give it but it needs to find more money and also check how it is being spent.”

They added: “Councils have to know that potholes are there for compensation. People are becoming aware that to claim or get things moving they need to report them. People turning to thats is going from a necessity to desperation point.”