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.