ROADS, junctions and bridges are all set to be sponsored as county council bosses look for new ways of paying for repairs.

Lancashire County Council has given permission for a marketing firm to begin canvassing local and national businesses.

And Mediasigns Ltd, a West Midlands firm which already finds sponsors for local authorities, has been instructed to hunt down every commercial opportunity possible.

Several Lancashire borough councils have, in the past, arranged for firms to have small adverts on roundabouts if the companies paid for floral displays on them.

But now all the borough councils have agreed to hand over the work to Lancashire County Council, which has instructed Mediasign.

The county desperately wants to spend more money on repairing roads so that it is not hit with injury claims from people because of the poor state of roads and paths.

Last year, more than £4million was paid out in 'third party claims.'

The money would also be used to support other transport projects across the county, as well as environmental initiatives.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Mediasign was chosen because it has a good track record of procuring sponsorship from a range of local and national companies.

"We have instructed them to look beyond the traditional sponsorship opportunities such as roundabout and boundary signs to other things, such as junctions and bridges.

"We will ensure the advertising meets strict guidelines and does not create problems for motorists, such as obscuring sightlines."

One of the things the money could be used for is the extension of a light-dimming scheme piloted on the M65.

It saves energy and reduces light pollution at night by reducing the brightness of lights when the road is quieter.

Other new transport schemes include fitting solar-powered bus shelters in rural areas so they have lights at night and subsidising more rural bus routes.

Ian Richardson, traffic and transport manager for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said: "We're looking at highway sponsorship, too. It will happen over the next couple of months."

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) said: "There's no evidence to suggest that roadside adverts are dangerous."

A spokesperson for the AA said: "Road signs shouldn't be anymore distracting than other signs, but it depends on the advertising how big it is and what is on it.

"For instance there was a bus in Cardiff that had a picture of a semi -naked woman that caused a number of men to crash their cars!"