RESIDENTS have complained to a council about the state of the road surface in their street - because engineers are due to resurface it!

Neighbours in East Park Avenue, Blackburn, have branded the work as ‘ridiculous’, ‘crazy’ and ‘a waste of money’.

Council highways boss Cllr Phil Riley said it was the first time he could recall residents complaining about their street being resurfaced rather than being left out.

Last week the residents were surprised to receive a letter from Blackburn with Darwen Council warning them it was to be ‘surface dressed’ on Monday.

It said: “The treatment is being carried out to repair the worn-out road surface.”

Neighbours Alan Haworth and Alfredo Bonaminio went to the town hall to complain as the street had been fully resurfaced five years ago and was still in good condition. Another resident, Farouk Mangera, contacted officials by phone.

Mr Haworth, 86, said: “I know it is unusual to complain about your road being resurfaced but this is ridiculous. The road surface is fine as it is.”

His wife Hazel, 85, said: “It just a complete waste of time and money. It was only done five years ago and they did a first-class job.”

Mr Bonaminio, 84, who has lived in the same house for 42 years, said: “This is crazy.

“Alan and I went to the town hall to complain and got nowhere.

“The road was resurfaced five years ago and they did an excellent job including the pavements and putting in drop kerbs.

“It just does not need doing. It is wasting the council taxpayers’ money and the contractors’ time.

“There are plenty of roads with lots of potholes and cracks nearby and they should spend the money on repairing them instead.”

The work is being done as part of a £375,000 surface dressing programme for 19 roads.

It follows the completion of a £17.5million four-year Network Recovery programme to repair dozens of roads across Blackburn with Darwen in 2016.

Cllr Riley said: “This is the first case I can remembers of residents complaining about their street being resurfaced rather than complaining it was full or potholes.

“I have some sympathy with them, but this scheme is about preventing potholes rather than repairing them. Surface dressing is about protecting the road surface for the next ten years or so.

“We want to tackle roads before they deteriorate to a cracked and potholed state which requires much greater and more expensive surgery.

“The council will shortly be starting a separate programme to deal with the most potholed and damaged road surfaces. This is also about showing to the government we are taking preventative measures to ensure we continue get grants for our road repairs.”

Another East Park Avenue resident, Alan Coar, dismissed Cllr Riley’s explanation as ‘nonsense’.