COUNCILS across East Lancashire will get the chance to bid for a share of £5.6million to tackle potholes and improve the quality of their roads.

Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale boroughs will put forward their most badly-surfaced roads when Lancashire County highways bosses allocate the cash later this year.

The cash, which comes on top of existing money for highway maintenance and repair, has been welcomed by community leaders.

The priorities for spending the £5.6million will be repairing potholes, resurfacing key roads and steps to prevent preventing major winter weather damage.

Lancashire County Council will make the money available for each local authority to bid for under the new scheme due to be rubber-stamped by its ruling Cabinet next week.

Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale borough councils are already preparing their bids for the cash share out, highlighting their most pothole-riddled roads for approval.

Cllr Ken Hind, leader of Ribble Valley Council,said: “Our roads are in desperate need of funding.

“Ribble Valley is the largest rural borough in Lancashire and we have some very long roads.

“During the winter the country highways suffer badly, as frost and cold weather opens up potholes and makes them worse.

“This can make transportation very difficult and can lead to a lot of problems.

“Rural roads can often be overlooked compared to town roads.”

The announcement on top of an existing scheme under which roads in Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle Rossendale and Hyndburn are set to benefit from £4million worth of projects to improve road surfaces.

This scheme, also with heavy emphasis on filling potholes, is due to start shortly,

A report to the Cabinet said the £5.6m would be divided up into responsive and reactive maintenance with a further £500,000 set aside to tackle traffic congestion at ‘pinch points’.

Cllr Alyson Barnes, leader of Rossendale Council, said: “We have some road resurfacing work programmed in already, which will start very soon, but I feel we have got some appalling roads.

“I was delighted to find out this new allocation had been made.

“It helps with the general look of the place as well.

“To get this funding would be really, really helpful.”

Julie Cooper, Burnley’s MP, said: “On the face of it of course any investments on improving services including highways in Lancashire is welcome and greatly needed.

“There is however a huge black hole in the county council’s budget as well as other councils countrywide resulting from drastic cuts to funding by the Government year on year.

“I and other colleagues will continue to lobby the government hard on a weekly basis in parliament to address this shortfall as a matter of urgency.”

Cllr Joe Cooney, leader of Pendle Council, said: “The potholes we found are just the tip of the iceberg.

“There are many holes out there that need filling.

“It is difficult to name just one or two areas that need attention because there are so many.

“I’m very pleased County Hall has found the £5m and I hope Pendle gets its fair share as it has been left out in recent years.”

Cllr Keith Iddon,Lancashire county’s cabinet member for highways, said: “Lancashire’s roads are vital to our economy, ensuring people and goods can travel efficiently, and it’s essential that we prioritise funding accordingly to keep them in good condition.

“Reducing flood risk and increasing our resilience to flooding has become an increasing priority following weather events over recent years, and we’re also investing more to ensure our road drains are well-maintained.”