A 'GROWING plague' of potholes across East Lancashire is forcing people to avoid driving on certain roads, councillors have warned.

Hundreds of holes have been reported to Lancashire County Council since January 1 alone, prompting councillors to demand improvements are made to the county's surfaces.

Roads which have been reported to the local authority in recent days include Regent Street, Venables Avenue and Skipton Old Road in Colne and Stump Hall Road, near Higham.

Wilpshire Road in Rishton, Hyndburn Road and Lancaster Road in Accrington and Warwick Drive in Clitheroe have also angered motorists, who have had their car's tyres damaged and wheels dented as a result of deep holes in the road.

In October, the Lancashire Telegraph revealed the county has the biggest pothole problem in the North West — despite more than £7million spent on repairs.

A total of 120,748 potholes were reported in the region in 2016, that amounts to a combined depth of almost 5km and 28 times the depth of the English Channel.

Lancashire County Councillor David Whipp, who represents Pendle Rural, has called on County Hall to act before roads become 'unusable' after reporting around 50 holes himself.

He said: "Many roads in Pendle are literally falling apart, there is a growing plague of potholes in Pendle.

"Huge craters are appearing with no apparent action to repair them.

"Tyres and suspensions are being damaged and lives put at risk.

"In some cases, conditions are so bad the county council needs to consider closing certain routes until repairs are carried out.

"Busy main roads have massive holes in them and the motorway is falling apart as well.

"Regent Street by Asda is in a terrible condition and it's a competition of misery as to which road is worse.

"Skipton Old Road over the tops from Colne towards Skipton is so bad, many motorists are refusing to use it and residents are even calling for it to be closed to through traffic until repairs are done."

In 2016, about 80,000 potholes were reported to Lancashire County Council.

This was higher than anywhere else in the North West, including Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Cumbria and Merseyside.

Several residents across the region took to social media to complain about the problem.

On Facebook, Aaron Phelan, from Nelson, said he had to pay £130 to replace two tyres before Christmas after going over a pothole in Stump Hall Road.

Phillippa Prestage, from Clayton-le-Moors, said: "Hyndburn Road in Accrington is undrivable.

"I e mailed Lancashire County Council about the matter and the road has got worse."

Jade Farmer said she counted about 15 pot holes in Whitebirk Drive near the Rocket Centre in Blackburn.

Colne town councillor Dorothy Lord said the condition of the roads is 'going backwards, despite promises from County Hall to spend millions of pounds on extra repairs in Pendle.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has a pothole repair team which goes out across the borough every day investigating and repairing potholes.

County Cllr Andrew Snowden, lead member for highways and transport at County Hall, said: "We've had a lot of wet and freezing weather which is why people are seeing more potholes at the moment, however we're working hard to fix them as soon as we can.

"The county council's cabinet agreed to put an extra £5m into the budget to invest in roads in July last year, with £2m of this going towards improving the way we repair potholes.

"For example if we are called out to a pothole but find others in close proximity we fix all of them rather than just the one reported to us, and we're due to pilot a new way of working where a team searches for and repairs potholes on those roads where our records show most are appearing.

"£3million annual resurfacing programme restores roads, helping to prevent potholes appearing in the first place, and Skipton Old Road is due to be considered for surface dressing in the coming year.

"If approved, this will significantly improve its condition by patching the worst damage before coating with tar and chippings to seal and waterproof the surface."