A ROAD safety campaigner wants urgent action over a town’s growing pothole problem after only a handful of craters were fixed in two months.

Former Green party candidate Andy Fewings spent hours visiting Burnley’s most craterous roads and spraying eco-friendly chalk paint around 100 potholes to see how long it would take County Hall bosses to repair them.

The 33-year-old, who has since been warned he faces a fine of £200 if he is caught spraying paint on the county’s roads, revisited the same 15 roads on Friday and found only a handful had been repaired.

Mr Fewings, who stood as a candidate in the Lancashire County Council for Burnley West, said ‘enough was enough’.

He said: “For too long the taxpayers of Burnley have had to put up with poor road surfaces.

“It causes damage to cars and bikes, which they also have to pay for.

“It’s a short-sighted approach by the council because any savings in overlooking road maintenance are often overshadowed by compensation for damage to vehicles and personal injury claims.

“The streets of Trinity ward are just generally bad, particularly Bevington Close and Clifton Street.

“We reported the potholes and almost all of them haven’t been fixed.

“I walked around the area on Friday and the only street that had some fixed was Richmond Street.”

County Hall bosses said they ‘have an inspection regime’ and all potholes much reach a certain state before ‘intervention’.

The latest call to repair the borough’s roads comes as the Lancashire Telegraph reported last week the county has the biggest pothole problem in the North West.

A total of 120,748 potholes were recorded in the region in 2016, data from Confused.com revealed.

Volunteers sprayed green potholes in Prestwich Street, Richmond Street, Coal Clough Lane, Scarlett Street, Burnham Gate, Bevington Close, Scott Park Road, Spring Hill Road, Harold Street, Howard Street, Clifton Street, Clevelands Road, Lansdowne Road and Montague Road at the end of August.

Mr Fewings said he was told by the county council he was not allowed to put markings onto the roads and if he was caught doing so again he may face a fine.

He said: “We know there are severe budget constraints but we’re not sure priorities are always right.

“The council seems more concerned with stopping us from highlighting the problem rather than fixing it.”

In 2016 councils in the region forked out more than £16million to repair potholes and more than £152,000 in compensation to those who had their car damaged by craters in the road.

County Hall bosses alone spent almost £7.2m repairing the potholes, which is more than any authority in the region and £29,075 in compensation to motorists.

Mr Fewings said he had received support from motorists, who honked their horns and gave them a thumbs-up, as they attended to the holes.

He said: “Fixing poor road surfaces has all kinds of benefits – helping to reduce accidents with better safety for cars, bikes and other road users, a cleaner environment and less noise pollution. That seems like a reasonable excuse for highlighting the dangers to me.”

Harvey Danson, county area highways manager, said: “We have an inspection regime to check roads for safety and, as well as noting the location, our inspectors mark any damaged areas which meet our intervention level of 40mm with white paint to identify them to our repair teams.

“We inspected the areas reported by Mr Fewings and carried out repairs where damage meets our intervention level.

“We respond to many reports from the public as well as our own inspectors but would ask people not to systematically mark damage due to the potential for conflict with our inspection and repair regime.”