LANCASHIRE County Council faces having to fork out more than £850,000 for repairs after soaring temperatures melted roads.

The summer heatwave led to road surfaces softening in some places, which can then stick to tyres, and make the surface slippery.

At the time, gritters were deployed to put down granite dust on sticky spots to provide a protective layer.

But now the county council has revealed it is gearing up to spend £854,000 on repairing the worst-affected roads because they had become a skid risk as a result.

Plans to address the problem roads, including several in East Lancashire, are expected to be approved at a council cabinet meeting next week.

Hotspots on Lancashire County Council-controlled roads where melting was a problem included Hollow Head Lane, Wilpshire, Todmorden Road, Bacup, Longridge Road, Hurst Green, Whalley Road, Read and Simonstone, Pasture Lane, Barrowford, Bacup Road, Cliviger, and Accrington Road, Whalley.

Roads in Blackburn with Darwen will also be repaired after being melted by the hot weather.

Livesey Branch Road and Preston New Road were among the major routes affected.

A Blackburn with Darwen Council spokesman said: “We don’t have a cost for the repairs to date but are awaiting the skid resistance survey results to provide us with an informed view of the amount that needs doing.”

A report to go before the county council cabinet meeting states: “This year’s summer was one of the longest and hottest on record, which as a consequence, caused road temperatures to be considerably higher for a much longer period of time than is usual.

“As a result of these high road temperatures the bituminous layer on several of Lancashire’s roads softened and ‘bled through’ the aggregate creating a flush surface layer.

“As bitumen has little skid resistance there is an increased risk of skidding which needs to be addressed.

“As these issues have been caused by extreme weather there is no possibility of redress from manufacturers or contractors.

“In August 2018, the Department for Transport was contacted to determine whether similar assistance to that received in 2014 to deal with the extreme winter weather will be available to help fund the remedial works.

“To date, no response has been received and there has been no government announcement that a grant will be made available.

“It is estimated that 350,000 square metres of carriageway is in need of work to permanently restore appropriate skid-resistance levels.”

“In the short term these roads have been treated with an application of fine grit to give traction.

“Permanent repair work requires a process called ‘hydro blasting’ whereby the bitumen that has ‘bled’ through to the road surface is removed using high pressure water jetting.

“This will re-establish the carriageway surface texture and the necessary skid resistance.

“It is estimated that the costs of these repairs will be £854,000, and it is proposed that this additional budget is funded from borrowing.”

County councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “On one hand we have been grateful for the good weather this summer as it has allowed us to make good progress with the repairs to our roads which were needed after the particularly cold, wet, winter.

“On the other hand, the prolonged spell of hot weather caused the bitumen to soften on roads all over the country, including here in Lancashire, causing some new damage in places.

“This means we now need to revisit those locations where the bitumen bled through to the surface to ensure we maintain skid resistance.

“We have done what we can to improve traction in these places over the short term by applying fine grit, but if the proposal is agreed by cabinet we will be using a process involving high pressure water jets to remove the excess bitumen and re-establish the surface texture with the necessary skid resistance.”

Among the East Lancs roads to be treated are A671 Bacup Road, Cliviger, Pasture Lane Barrowford/Roughlee and Todmorden Road, Bacup.

Burnley Road East, Waterfoot, Accrington Rd, Whalley, Whins Lane, Simonstone, and Colne Road, Pendle, are also in need of repair.