Lancashire County Council's increased the time it will take to fix a pothole, while attempting to mislead the public with statistics that do not identify how long it really takes to fix potholes from a member of the public reporting to the work being done.

That's according to Ormskirk's John Fillis as the County Councillor issued this press release yesterday to QLocal:

More Pothole Misery

County Figures Fudged

Lancashire County Council's Cabinet has agreed to change the current performance indicator for pothole repairs from: 'To repair 90% of all carriageway and footway defects (potholes) reported within 20 working days.'" to a new system based on the day the pothole was inspected.

In the Cabinet Meeting it was accepted that the report was neither clear nor accurate as to the parameters of measurement between inspection and the public reporting a pothole.

The Conservative Administration still approved the report without amendment.

Labour, Liberal and Independent councillors will be 'calling in' the policy for further scrutiny, which will prevent its implementation until full clarification has been reached regarding how long it will take to fill a pothole.

According to Cllr John Fillis, Labour Deputy Leader: "Lancashire County Council has increased the time it will take to fix a pothole, while attempting to mislead the public with statistics that do not identify how long it really takes to fix a pothole from a member of the public reporting, to the work being done."

"The previous Labour Administration agreed to repair 90% of all carriageway and footway potholes reported within 20 working days. The Conservative administration have now changed the measurement to the starting time from the day it's identified by the inspector.”

"This does not seem much on paper but the time it takes to have a reported pothole inspected has not been specified. Waiting for the pothole to be inspected could be a week or even two weeks and even longer during the winter time. This is a complete and utter fudge of the figures to deliberately mislead the public."

"Under the Labour Administration a target of 90% of potholes fixed within 20 working days was achieved. It was also easy for the public to understand and monitor. The Conservative have now created a matrix that is deliberately confusing but is flawed as it only specifies measurement from the time of inspection. These figures that they will be producing cannot be compared with previous works."

“They cannot hide the appalling state of the roads right across Lancashire behind statistic. The roads are worse than ever with no sign of any improvements. They promised improvements and once again they have failed.”

Further information:

According to the original report (June, 2014) supporting the repairs carried out within 20 working days as an indicator provided performance assessment for defects identified by both Highway Safety inspections and those reported by the public.

For the purpose of this measurement, a report from the public will only be considered a 'defect' should it meet our prescribed intervention level. Performance trends for potholes specifically can be assessed against previous year performance. Monitoring against working days is standard practice by most comparable authorities and therefore may allow for improved benchmarking.

The new proposal states: 'Revised Defect Categories and Response

1 Day: The defect must be made safe, or repaired within one working day, starting from close of work on the day following its identification. This applies to all potholes that are more than 300mm in width in any direction and 150mm or greater in depth.

5 day: The defect must be repaired within five working days starting from the day following its identification by the inspector. This applies to highways inspected monthly for defects that are more than 300mm in width in any direction and 40mm or greater in depth.

10 day: The defect must be repaired within 10 working days, starting from the day identified by the inspector. This applies to highways inspected quarterly for defects that are more than 300mm in width in any direction and 40mm or greater in depth.

20 day: The defect must be repaired within 20 working days, starting from the day identified by the inspector. This applies to highways inspected 6 monthly and annually for defects that are more than 300mm in width in any direction and 40mm or greater in depth.'