Comments from Liberal Democrat Councillor “Whipp” Up a Storm of Protest from Ribble Valley Residents
Claims that road maintenance funding has been given more favourably to Conservative boroughs than others by the leader of the Liberal Democrats on Lancashire County Council, David Whipp, have been dismissed as highly provocative and wholly inaccurate by Conservative Ribble Valley Borough Councillor, Ged Mirfin and the Leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, Ken Hind.
Whipp claims that the Ribble Valley has been given more funding than Pendle due to the fact that it is under Conservative control. £468,477 was spent in Pendle compared to just under £1.5M in the Ribble Valley. According to Whipp, “Leafy lanes of Ribble Valley see three times much spending than the urban areas in Pendle.”
Ken Hind issued a stinging riposte stating, “This comment from the Liberal Councillor Whipp ignores that the Ribble Valley is the biggest rural borough in Lancashire with the most roads whose roads were neglected under the last Labour County Council administration he supported. This is a remedial programme correcting the past neglect, the proportion of the budget reflects the miles of roads.”
Local resident Geoff Isherwood aptly sums up the situation stating, “Earlier today I drove out of Clitheroe on Whalley Road (A671). Between the Clitheroe boundary sign and the A59, a distance of about a mile, there were approximately 20 potholes in the southbound carriageway alone. As the major road into the town, you would think that this should receive priority treatment, but it and many other roads in the borough are in desperate need of attention for safety reasons.”
Councillor Ged Mirfin, who is actively campaigning about the poor state of Whalley Old Road as a consequence of the bad potholes which appear on it together with the vast number of serious potholes on the main road which passes through Billington states, “Councillor Whipp is talking nonsense! I estimate that twice as much money ought to have been spent on potholes in the Ribble Valley because we have more road mileage than any other Borough in Lancashire. Depending on how you calculate it somewhere between 38 and 40% of Total Road Mileage in the whole of Lancashire is in the Ribble Valley.”
Councillor Mirfin continues, “The problem is that there is serious under-reporting of potholes. If nobody reports them nobody in authority will know they are there and nothing will be done about them. Which is why I encourage residents to report potholes as soon as they become aware of them and the quicker we can get something done about them. That is why I am encouraging residents to take part in a mass reporting of potholes. There are 3 ways residents can do this. All are on-line.’
“The first is through Lancashire County Council via Report It.
http://new.lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/fault-search.aspx
The second is through Fix My Street an Independent Information accumulator which passes details of potholes on straight to the Local Authority responsible for the repairs.
The third is through the .Gov web-site Report a pothole which informs Local Authorities of potholes reported through the site.
https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole
“A prominent example of a pothole which requires something urgently doing about,” according to Councillor Mirfin, “is located outside of Billington Brassband Club at the junction of Longworth Road and Painter Wood on Whalley Old Road.”
“The pothole dubbed “the crater” by one of my constituents (Stuart Hirst) is 5ft across and 15ft in length and covers 75 sq ft.” Stuart Hurst states, “Its not a pothole, it’s a crater from a meteor! Seriously though it needs sorting quick when you drive into it it actually pulls your car off direction!!”
The pothole has been rated as a 5* pothole on the Award Winning Facebook Page Rate My Pothole.
https://www.facebook.com/ratemypothole/
Councillor Mirfin continues, “I stood for an hour outside Billington Brassband Club today observing a high volume of traffic as it passed over what I believe to be the biggest pothole in Britain. There was a percussive thud as traffic hit it at speed giving me concerns about the damage that is being done to tyres, wheels, suspension and axles. Either that or the drivers deliberately chose to circumnavigate their way around in order to avoid damage to their vehicles in the process posing a danger to oncoming traffic heading in the opposite direction as they verged across the other side of the road and threatening an accident. This is after all on a main road and main bus route to boot. It is not just the size of the pothole it is it’s location on a busy road junction.”
It is a view echoed by local residents. Billington Brassband Club Steward, David Hothersall states, “I did wonder how big it was going to get before something was said. In general the roads in and around whalley are getting in a very bad state.”
Gillian Darbyshire, former President of the Whalley Lions and a Director of Whalley & Billington Flood Action Group states, “It almost swallows your car and you can hardly miss it.”
Jennifer Rowland states, “However carefully I try to negotiate the pothole it still jars my car. It's very dangerous for cyclists.”
Andrew Dixon states, “I think we'd need mountain rescue on standby just in case anyone falls in it!
Pauline Gillibrand states, “I use that junction everyday. Keep thinking I'll disappear one day!!!! It’s really dangerous. There will be a sinkhole if nothing done very soon. It's almost collapsed. I wait and go on otherside of road!!! or slow to almost a stop!!!”
Lisa Lomax states, “I travel at least twice a day over this, surprised it hasn't written someone's bumper or my front end off yet!!” It is massive and you can't always avoid it.”
Linda Summer states, “It's lethal that particular pot hole I'm surprised there hasn't been an accident......YET!”