Roger Hayes gives the post-snow warning in his blog

Bolton will have to deal with potholes and broken road surfaces after the snow and ice has gone, a leading Liberal Democrat has warned.

Councillor Roger Hayes, Leader of the Bolton Liberal Democrat group on Bolton Council, said: “Eventually this cold weather will end, but then other problems will start. First, there will be a danger of flooding if the thaw is rapid.”

“We will then have to see what damage the ice and salt has done to Bolton’s roads and pavements. Remember how many potholes appeared last year after a relatively mild winter?”

“The problem this year is likely to be far, far worse. In that situation it seems foolhardy for Bolton Council to be considering slashing its road budget for 2010/11; one option under consideration is to cut the Highways Urgent Repairs Budget (which is used for pothole repairs) by £150,000 and other Highways budgets by over £325,000. We shall try very hard to get that changed – we have had some success in previous years.”

Deputy group leader, Councillor David Wilkinson, also added: “Once the cold snap is over, the next problem will be the condition of the roads which took a real pasting from last winter and given that there is a backlog of around £50 million on roads and footpaths work across Bolton, things don’t look good.”

Bolton has seen some of the worse wintery conditions for a number of years and the council has been working hard to ensure the main roads are gritted.

You can view Roger’s blog here, and David’s blog here.

A congestion charge zone

The Labour government has said that the borough councils of Greater Manchester will no longer be able to bid for Transport Infrastructure Fund (TIF) money – and so Bolton will lose out.

The news comes as a result of residents voting against plans for congestion charging. The government says they will not give TIF money to councils if they refuse to accept their widely unpopular congestion charging plans.

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Bolton Council, David Wilkinson, said: “The TIF money has always been very useful for small improvement projects around the town, but now the government has taken this money away from us just because the people have told them what they think of their grand congestion charging ideas.”

Jackie Pearcey

Lib Dem Jackie Pearcey, who is campaigning for the Bolton West constituency, echoed the sentiments. She said: “This Labour Government spent years failing to allow the people of Greater Manchester to invest in our public transport and when money was promised, it came with a string attached which was not acceptable. In the meantime, millions have been spent in railway improvements in London and the South East.  The Government should allow us to spend our own money to improve our transport.”

Councils may still bid for funding – but their chances of success are minimal after this latest government blow.