A number of key roads in Preston will be resurfaced or undergo preventative repairs over the next 12 months.
Lancashire County Council’s cabinet has agreed a list of 80 individual schemes to be carried out – several of which involve more than one route.
They make up the annual set of pre-planned highways maintenance projects that the authority, whose patch excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, undertakes each year – and are separate to the day-to-day ‘reactive’ work done to fix individual potholes as they appear.
Read more: Work to fully repair Blackpool Road to finally go ahead months after issues first reported
Almost £21m has been set aside for scheduled road repair jobs in the 2026/27 financial year, comprising a combination of full resurfacing works and pre-emptive ‘surface dressing’ – a special process that not only improves the condition of the carriageway, but seals it to prevent future damage caused by water entering cracks in the road. The figure also includes £440k for footpath repairs.
The cash comes from an overall £72m pot that County Hall has this year set aside for upkeep of its highways – £48.2m of which is government funding, supplemented by £18.4m agreed at the county council’s budget last month, along with unspent money carried over from last year.
It is expected that at least £28m of the total amount available will be swallowed up by filling in potholes that materialise during the year ahead and meet the ‘intervention’ level for repair – meaning that they are at least 40mm deep. However, as the number of those fixes cannot be predicted, more funding might have to be allocated for that purpose as the year progresses – which would come at the expense of some of the pre-planned projects.
Tranches of the £72m are also reserved for the maintenance of bridges and other structures (£6.5m), traffic lights (£750k), streetlamps (£5.3m) and drainage (£1.9m).
At the cabinet meeting where the budget apportionments and individual schemes were agreed, Reform UK’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Warren Goldsworthy, said investment had been “prioritised using a risk-based, data-driven approach, ensuring funding is targeted where it will have the greatest long-term benefit”.
Progressive Lancashire opposition group leader Azhar Ali called on the authority to restart the meetings it used to hold with county councillors within each district at which they could put forward suggestions for roads that needed attention in their own areas. That practice was stopped under the previous Conservative administration at County Hall.
County Cllr Goldsworthy said he would “really encourage” members to highlight problem roads in their patches, but said he was committed to a “data-driven” strategy.
He cautioned against “the danger” of “more important” councillors managing to secure repairs that were not supported by a dispassionate assessment of the condition of the roads in question.
“Let the officers drive [any suggestions] through the data and let’s get the right roads done,” County Cllr Goldsworthy added.
However, he agreed with Progressive Lancashire deputy leader Gina Dowding who said that there needed to be “checks and balances from…humans when AI doesn’t get it right every time”.
The authority has recently deployed artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cameras to carry out inspections of the 4,600 miles of highway for which it is responsible.
The county council’s in-house teams undertake the resurfacing and surface dressing schemes approved by the cabinet, along with repairs of the most urgent emerging potholes. A single third-party contractor, Blackburn-based Multevo, has – since last year – been employed to fix those potholes with longer, five-day and 20-day target response times.
Preston district roads to be resurfaced
A5071 Moor Lane – from Adelphi Place to the junction with North Road – preventative work
Faringdon Lane from Pope Lane to Ribbleton Avenue (B6243) – preventative work
Lancaster Road North – from Melling Street to North Road – resurfacing
Longsands – from Eastway to Anderton Way roundabout – preventative work
Sedgwick Street – from St. Paul’s Road to junction with North Road – preventative work
Tulketh Brow – from Blackpool Road to property no.151
Victoria Road and surrounding routes – Albert Road, Chapman Road, East Road, Garrison Road, Higher Bank Road, Lower Bank Road, Park Road, Victoria Road, West Road – preventative work
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