PHOTOS: Anger at shocking state of Lancaster and Morecambe roads in "worst condition for years"

Residents have hit out at the "absolutely disgusting" state of roads around the Lancaster and Morecambe district saying they are in "the worst condition for years".

Beyond Radio has been inundated with comments about the "appalling" quality of many roads around the area due to potholes and other issues.

This came as a Labour councillor for Morecambe slammed the Tory-led County Council for "ignoring" an independent report on the state of the country's roads.

The Conservative cabinet member for highways and transport, though, said millions of pounds more funding is being pumped into road repairs and Lancashire Highways teams had filled "more potholes than ever before".

Lancaster and Morecambe district residents, posting on the Beyond Radio Facebook page and contacting us directly, have highlighted numerous roads where there are potholes and other issues.

They include:

Oxcliffe Road, Morecambe

Douglas Drive, Heysham

Woodhill Lane, Morecambe

Carleton Street, Morecambe

Bare Lane, Morecambe

Peacock Lane, Hest Bank

Powder House Lane, Lancaster

Kingsway, Heysham

Acre Moss Lane, Morecambe

Euston Road, Morecambe

The Shrimp Roundabout, Morecambe (pictured below)

South Road, Morecambe

Fairfield Road, Heysham

Sulby Grove, Bare

St Christopher's Way, Bare

Quernmore Road, Lancaster

Torrisholme Road, Lancaster

Knowlys Road, Heysham

Thirlmere Drive, Morecambe

Here is a selection of comments from Beyond Radio listeners. You can read them all at the Beyond Radio Facebook page.

Tricia Dakin-Humm said: "Roads in the whole area are a disgrace."

Steph James said: "Horrendous potholes in our area. I'm sick of trying to avoid them."

Pamela Newman said: "I can always tell when I'm crossing the border between Cumbria and Lancashire, the roads become dreadful. You see drivers going left and right to avoid the potholes, some might think they were drunk.

"Come on Lancashire, get them sorted properly, not patching resulting in the holes needing doing again."

Louise King said: "Doesn't matter how many time you report seriously bad roads council don't care! They say they 'fix' the roads but within six months they're back to original state!"

Carl Wallwork said: "The road that leads up to Salt Ayre is third world. It will be doing unseen damage to cars every time one drives on it. It's an absolute disgrace!"

Simon Attwood said: "Absolutely disgusting conditions, ridiculous amount of dangerous potholes - everywhere."

"Only a matter of time before they cause a serious accident."

Charlie Smith said: "Considering the amount of road tax that car drivers and motorcyclists pay I'm inclined to think someone is taking the urine, we're certainly not getting our money's worth."

Amanda Hannah said: "Sulby Grove is a patchwork, Sunnyfield into Beaufort Road is terrible. And St Christopher’s is holier than the pope!"

Other residents said they had reported potholes and they had been fixed quickly.

Marian Roberts said: "I reported some holes in our road to Lancashire County Council via their app online, they came and filled them in within a few weeks.

"Maybe if more people did this there might be more action on resurfacing."

Ryan Cunningham said: "Local roads are atrocious however reported two potholes on my street on Monday this week sending in a picture, and they were fixed and filled in by Wednesday."

Beyond Radio was also out and about on Sunday and we took these photos of potholes and damage to roads around Morecambe and Heysham.

South Road in Morecambe

The Shrimp Roundabout

Fulwood Drive, Morecambe

Bare Lane/Mayfield Drive, Bare

Fairfield Road, Heysham

We will be reporting all of the potholes we have found.

Lancashire County Council Highways department is responsible for the maintenance of our county's roads.

Beyond Radio has contacted the county council to ask for information on how many potholes have been reported in the past six months, and how many have been repaired.

WHAT OUR POLITICIANS SAY

A Morecambe councillor told us the state of the roads in central Morecambe is top of the complaints she receives from residents.

In a statement sent to Beyond Radio, Councillor Margaret Pattison (pictured below) said: "The reality of the situation is that our roads are in some of the worst conditions they have been for years.

"The state of the roads in Morecambe Central and roundabout areas is top of the complaints I receive from residents, with cars being damaged and residents coming off their bikes due to deep potholes, dangerous pavements, blocked drains causing flooding, damaging vehicles.

"We need action now and a long term programme to tackle this issue as our roads are deteriorating to the point that they are beyond repair."

Councillor Charlie Edwards (pictured below), a Conservative county councillor for Morecambe South, posted on the Beyond Radio Facebook page about the issue.

He said: 

"I work all year round as a councillor with Highways as one of my biggest issues raised all the time.

"With limited resources, rising costs of everything and the most skilled members of our workforce snapped up by much better paid jobs elsewhere in the industry - it’s so hard. And as a councillor I do everything I can: report any issues, try and keep people informed, encourage others to report, and lobby for more cash spent.

"Filling potholes doesn’t do the best job, but it keeps the road safe until it’s that road’s turn for resurfacing. And Lancaster and Morecambe get its fair share of roads resurfaced.

"So I ask you:

"1. Please encourage everyone to report on the Love Clean Streets that’s the quickest, official way to get an issue resolved. If you take a picture it saves the £75 it roughly costs to get an inspector out to verify it and book the work in.

"2. Please challenge any politician who comment on this issue to tell you and your listeners exactly how they would do it better, and how they would pay for it, and remind them that there is absolutely no magic wand unless you can ban lorries, rain and frost, the main causes of cracks in the road.

"If anyone wants to report an issue or discuss this with me further - please email me : Charles.edwards@lancashire.gov.uk ."

Councillor Joanne Ainscough (pictured below), a Lancaster city councillor and Morecambe town councillor for Labour, posting on our Facebook page, said:

"As a city councillor, the one issue I get the most complaints about is the state of the roads and roadsides.

"The amount of time spent reporting potholes, blocked drains etc. is ridiculous especially when it’s not even our level of responsibility.

"Obviously residents come to local councillors for help because they feel very frustrated and who can blame them when it’s almost impossible to drive down a single street without potholes.

"Then there is the nonsensical way County repair things, for instance last year they replaced the tarmac on Osbourne Grove, except they only did half of it, the section between Acre Moss Lane and Ellesmere Road.

"The section that goes from Acre Moss Lane, down past Acre Moss Stores to Needham Avenue, where the United Utilities depot is at the bottom, and is arguably in much worse condition due to the amount of heavy traffic it gets, they just left.

"The rest of my ward (Harbour) isn’t much better, in fact it’s dreadful, the roads around Thirlmere, Woodhill Lane, Carleton St are all in desperate need of resurfacing as well, in fact I could spend all day every day reporting issues!

"Then there are also the road markings which in some places have all but disappeared, places were cars have hit fencing and it’s never been replaced, there is a section in Poulton ward at the bottom of Euston Road near the zebra crossing that has been left for well over a year.

"Areas around Westgate are in a poor state, White Lund Industrial Estate is like the surface of the moon!

"Not that other areas of the county far much better, Garstang in particular is pretty bad and Preston isn’t great either."

Meanwhile Councillor Pattison, a Morecambe county, city and town councillor for Labour, has criticised the Conservative leadership of the county council for "ignoring" an independent report calling for action.

The Tory cabinet member for highways and transport, though, said Lancashire teams had filled "more potholes than ever before".

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick also pointed to "significantly more funding from the government" over the next 10 years which would "reverse the decline" highlighted in the Local Government Association (LGA) report.

Spending on local road repairs in the UK has been reduced by more than nearly all other OECD countries - a group of 38 'high income' nations - in almost two decades, LGA analysis revealed in August.

"Ahead of the next General Election, the LGA is calling on all political parties to pledge to a 10 year programme where current funding for local roads and local transport infrastructure is boosted by devolving the equivalent of 2p of existing fuel duty," said the LGA.

"This would help councils to reverse the current decline in road conditions, so residents aren’t paying for far more expensive pothole repairs, and work can continue on reducing air pollution and supporting the move to a low carbon economy.

"This needs be accompanied by fully devolved powers to councils over all local transport, with five year funding settlements as benefits national bodies such as Network Rail and National Highways, to also allow investment in more sustainable and lower carbon forms of local transport as we work towards net zero. 

"This would not only ensure councils can tackle our growing local roads repair backlog but also boost the economy, jobs and investment.

A residents satisfaction poll, published by the LGA over the summer of 2023, found that only 34 per cent of residents were satisfied with how well their local roads were maintained. This was the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 2012.

The Local Government Association is the national membership body for local authorities in England and Wales.

At a county council meeting in December, Labour County Councillor Julie Gibson challenged the Tory leadership of the council on the LGA report.

She asked: "Does the cabinet member for Highways and Transport accept the study by the LGA  that decades of reductions in funding from successive Con governments have left councils with the biggest ever annual pothole repair backlog with councils now facing a £1.3bn shortfall in their pothole repair budgets?

"Would the cabinet member support the LGA proposal to commit to a 10-year programme where funding for local roads is boosted by devolving the equivalent of 2 per litre on existing fuel duty?

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick said: "The LGA report does indeed make interesting reading.

"However the current government has had the conviction to reverse this decline by announcing in the spring budget an additional 220m for highways maintenance for 2023/4, our share of that was five million, and an additional £8.3bn for highways maintenance funding nationally over the next 10 years.

"For us that's an additional £3.661m for the next two years and an additional uplift of at least £24.4m per year through to 2034, on top of at today's rate, the nearly £29m that we already get.

"Our calculation is that the devolution of 2p of the existing levy would produce a very similar amount of revenue to that announced in the most recent statement thereby depriving the Treasury of important additional funds for deployment elsewhere.

"We know that improving our roads is a top priority for Lancashire's residents and businesses. And the news that we will be receiving significally more funding from the government in the coming years is very welcome.

"Our highways team worked really hard to squeeze the most our of the resources we have available to keep our roads in the best condition. This week I received confirmation that by driving efficiencies, our teams have filled more potholes than ever before and within budget."

County Councillor Gibson replied: "Notwithstanding the work that is done by the Highways team, I'm pretty sure if you speak to the residents of Lancashire, they do not feel that this work is being done.

"This study would commit us over a 10-year period (into putting) some money into the coffers. Please don't ignore it. Please make sure that you follow it through."

NOTE - this story has been updated since original publication