£60m needed to plug pothole gap

A new study shows the borough has one of the largest backlogs of road repairs in the country.

A Freedom of Information request to local authorities showed Oldham has a current road repair bill totalling £60million — one of the highest in England.

Despite this figure, Oldham Council is set to receive one of the lowest funding allocations in Greater Manchester as part of the Government’s £6billion fund to help local authorities tackle potholes over the next six years.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority will be given over £125m up to 2021 to share between its 10 local authorities. Initial figures sugget Oldham is likely receive just over £12.7 million in six yearly amounts — the sixth lowest amount within Greater Manchester.

Oldham Council’s cabinet member for housing, planning and transport, Councillor Dave Hibbert, said: “We are facing two big challenges. Firstly, it would cost around £60m to bring our borough’s entire road network up to scratch - the amount we have to save across the whole of the council over the next two years.

“In addition, our roads need more maintenance than those in most other areas. Two-thirds of our network is made up of rural roads and we are faced with extensive maintenance as a consequence of severe winter weather conditions.”