The Department for Transport has granted £612,000 from the cancelled Northern section of HS2 to Blackburn and Darwen Council in Lancashire for maintenance of its road network.

After the Birmingham to Manchester section of the HS2 rail link was cancelled, money that was originally destined for the project was reallocated to the north of England, part of which formed the Network North Plan.

Network North is an £8.3 billion commitment by the government for the maintenance of highways across England for the next 11 years.

The money is to be ring-fenced for maintenance and is to be used to resurface carriageways, cycleways, and footways to repair potholes and prevent them and other road defects from occurring.

The extra funding to Blackburn and Darwen Council from the Network North Plan is a 30% increase on its normal budgetary allocation.

It is sufficient for the Council’s highways department to resurface about 6.2 km of road in a year, which is 1.2% of its road network. Previous funding levels have been enough to fund resurfacing 4.5 km, or 1% of its road network each year.

Roads to be resurfaced will be selected according to their urgency, with work being prioritised based on their current conditions as determined by the Council’s highways department’s asset management strategy.

The overall aim of the strategy is to extend both the life of the Borough’s road network and the overall impact that road defects have on communities.

Resurfacing to extend their life

Following assessment, during the next year the following roads have been selected to receive surface dressing schemes to repair them and extend their life:

• Egerton Road Corridor, West Pennine
• Long Lane, Billinge and Beardwood
• A666 Darwen Falcon Avenue to Birch Hall Avenue
• Rivington Road, Belmont

Resurfacing to address deterioration

The following roads have been selected for resurfacing to address their deterioration:

• Troy Street, Blackburn
• Accrington Road, Blackburn
• Billinge End Road, Blackburn
• Livingstone Road, Blackburn
• Sough Road, Darwen
• Vale Street, Darwen
• Amber Avenue, Blackburn
• Beryl Avenue, Blackburn
• Bolton Road, Blackburn
• Harwood Street, Darwen
• Lammack Road, Blackburn
• Walker Road, Blackburn
• Alderman Arthur Townsend, Blackburn
• Kelsall Avenue, Blackburn
• Greenhead Avenue, Blackburn

Road patching

The following roads will be patched to remediate potholes and other defects to improve their condition:

• Owlet Hall Road, Darwen
• Prospect Avenue, Darwen

Cancellation of the northern section of HS2 will also benefit other communities. One scheme already announced is electrification of the North Wales main line.

We are grateful for this extra boost of funding from the Department of Transport; however, the borough’s road network is deteriorating rapidly and requires significantly more capital to maintain it. We would welcome further grants from the government to be able to do this.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Blackburn and Darwen Council Executive Member for Growth and Development