POTHOLES across the county are taking longer to fix, new figures have revealed.

Data from Lancashire County Council shows two thirds of potholes have been repaired within the target of 20 working days in 2017/18.

Labour group chiefs said this compared to 97 per cent of potholes being fixed within 20 working days when they were in charge at county hall in 2016/17.

The Conservative-run county council said the drop was caused by factors including the ‘severe’ winter which led to its ‘resources being stretched’.

But shadow cabinet member for highways and transport, county councillor Erica Lewis, slammed the figures and blamed a lack of funding.

Cllr Lewis said: “This is a serious failure of the chaotic Conservative County council to deliver services for local people.

“Excuses are not good enough, especially when they increased council tax by six per cent this year and the Conservative voted against the £5million extra funding proposed by Labour specifically to provide permanent pothole repairs.”

Hyndburn’s Labour MP Graham Jones said: “I’ve had many people get in touch about the poor state of our roads, with some facing huge car repairs costs due to the damage caused by potholes.”

But the county council said it is planning to spend around £26m to maintain Lancashire’s road surfaces over the coming year, with over £13m of this set aside to fix potholes, and carry out minor repairs to prevent potholes occurring.

County councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Despite the drop in performance in responding to potholes within 20 days over the past financial year, this has now substantially improved and was up to 86 per cent in June, close to our target of 90 per cent.

“The drop in performance was due to a number of factors, including the severe winter which led to our resources being stretched.