These East Lancashire roads will be repaired

County Hall officials last month laid out their maintenance plans for the year ahead on the assumption that they would get a reduced £20.1m settlement from the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2022/23.   However, the authority learned just days beforehand that it would once again be handed the £28m that it was allocated last year.

Cabinet members have now approved a list of extra schemes to go with the 76 that they had already agreed.

Labour opposition group leader Azhar Ali welcomed the investment, but said that there were roads across the county that were now “absolutely shot” – and asked what the future was for streets that “keep getting missed off [the list of repairs] year after year”.

However, cabinet member for highways and transport Charlie Edwards defended the authority’s strategy for deciding which routes should be prioritised for work.

“All of the schemes that were put forward by individual [councillors], members of the public or by our own highways engineers…go through a ranking process and it’s done very much based on the evidence and the approach that we’ve got.  The ones that met the criteria the most…were the ones [selected].

“I just think it’s really important that we stick to the methodology and a decision-making process where this is always the case. I think by following the evidence…you do end up with a much fairer system [compared to the one that] some authorities still sadly have which is whoever shouts the loudest gets their road done – and I think that’s an extremely inequitable way to run a department and it’s certainly not a professional way to run a local government organisation in the 21st century.”

He added that County Hall’s approach had once again seen it given the highest rating by the DfT for good use of its resources – meaning that its £28m maintenance fund allocation  includes an extra £3.2m which was sent Lancashire’s way in recognition of how it spends its highways repair money.

“Everything that we spend is going to be to make sure that we get the absolute most that we possibly can for every part of Lancashire,” County Cllr Edwards said.

The county council’s budget for pre-planned repairs is largely in addition to that allocated for fixing structural defects that emerge during the year, should they meet the authority’s criteria.  County Hall will attend to a carriageway pothole only if it is over 40mm deep.

Papers presented to the cabinet state that “actual expenditure will reflect operational demand” – with an expectation that £10m will be required for reactive repairs during 2022/23.

That total will be made up of £2m from the DfT’s highways maintenance grant, a further £2m for “responsive maintenance” agreed when the county council set its budget back in February and £6m either from other funding within the capital programme or, as a last resort, prudential borrowing.

Members were also told that a £3m local deterioration fund – which will cover the cost of some of the smaller-scale planned projects – will be topsliced to the tune of £1.3m to create a contingency pot to deal with any issues that emerge within the proposed programme or at other locations.

Lancashire’s long-term plan for keeping its roads in good condition is currently focusing its attention o unclassified, often residential, streets, having made main routes the priority during the first five years of the strategy from 2014.

CUTTING THE CARBON FROM LANCASHIRE’S ROAD REPAIRS

Lancashire County Council will aim to choose the lowest carbon options for maintaining the road network, after drawing up a plan to decarbonise its highways activities.

Staff will be trained to calculate carbon output across the life cycle of a project and make decisions accordingly.

Specific suggestions outlined in the strategy, which has been given the green light by the authority’s cabinet, include use of reflective – rather than internally-lit – bollards, deployment of drones to carry out bridge inspections and a shift to electric vehicles, where possible, within the highways fleet.

Energy efficiency audits will be carried out at highways depots, which will aim for net zero carbon output, along with County Hall’s fleet operations.

Cabinet member for highways and transport Charlie Edwards said that the policy was ”ahead of its time” and should be applauded.

Efforts already made by the authority include the – almost completed – conversion of all 152,000 Lancashire streetlights to LED bulbs.

Cabinet member for economic development and growth Aidy Riggott said that staff had already shown that they were passionate about the carbon reduction plans.

IN NUMBERS

£3m – main, A, B and C roads

£2.3m – rural unclassified roads

£6.6m – urban unclassified roads

£1m – footways

£3.5m – bridges and structures

£1.2m – street lighting

£600K – traffic signals

WHAT’S HAPPENING WHERE?

BURNLEY

Arbories Avenue – Padiham and Burnley West – resurfacing full length

Lindsay Street – Burnley North East – resurfacing from Church Street to the end of the road

Brownhill Avenue – Burnley Central East – resurfacing from Brunshaw Road to Carholme Avenue

Springfield Road – Burnley Rural – resurfacing from Hollingreave Road to o Marlborough Street

HYNDBURN

West Street – Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors – resurfacing from Blackburn Road to Hanson Street

Pickup Street – Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central – resurfacing from Spring Hill Road South to the end of Pickup Street (Clifton Mill Gates)

Victor Street – Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors – resurfacing from George Street to Pickup Street

Elm Street Great – Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors – resurfacing full length

Clarence Road – Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central – resurfacing full length

Pickup Street – Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors – resurfacing from Barnes Square to Whalley Road

PENDLE

A56 Skipton New Road – Pendle Rural – surface dressing from outside Green Fells House to new surfacing outside no.49 Bankhouse and from the new surfacing finish point at the 40mph sign to previous surface dressing finish point

Kirby Road – Brierfield and Nelson West – resurfacing from Churchill Way to outside no.14

Spring Street – Brierfield and Nelson West – resurfacing in Manchester Road area

Allendale Street – Pendle Central – resurfacing from Vincent Street to Lilac Street

Craven Street – Pendle Rural – resurfacing full length

Walverden Crescent – Nelson East – resurfacing full length

Railway Street – Nelson East – resurfacing from Waidshouse Road to the end of the road

Kings Causeway – Pendle Hill – resurfacing at junction with Halifax Road

Stone Edge Road – Pendle Hill – resurfacing from Mitton Avenue to Barnoldswick Road

Skipton Road – Pendle Rural – resurfacing and renewal of anti-skid surface on approaches to the mini roundabout

RIBBLE VALLEY

B6243 Edisford Road – Clitheroe – resurfacing from Roefield leisure centre entrance to lighting column 45

Lowmoor Way – Clitheroe – resurfacing from Union Street to High Street

Little Lane – Longridge with Bowland- resurfacing from Kestor Lane to Fell Brow

Ely Close – Ribble Valley South West – resurfacing full length

Lowmoor Way – Clitheroe – resurfacing from Union Street to Nelson Street

Barker Lane – Ribble Valley South West – resurfacing full length

ROSSENDALE

Booth Road – Mid Rossendale – resurfacing from John Street to Burnley Road East

Lilac Avenue – Rossendale West – resurfacing full length

Thisltemount Avenue – Mid Rossendale resurfacing full length

Prospect Street – Mid Rossendale and Rossendale East – resurfacing from Burnley Road East to Wales Road

Stubbins Vale Road – Rossendale South – surface dressing from Stubbins Street to farm cottages

Chatterton Road – Rossendale South – surface dressing from Bolton Road North to the end of the road

Somerset Walk – Rossendale West – resurfacin full length

Bluebell Avenue – Rossendale West – resurfacing from Campion Drive to the end of the road