Council unveils £23m road works for Lancashire

LANCASHIRE County Council is set to give the go-ahead for £23.5m repairs and improvements to the county's roads, pavements, bridges and walkways.
County Coun John FillisCounty Coun John Fillis
County Coun John Fillis

Projects range from cash for resurfacing part of Preston’s Ringway, to installing a pelican crossing outside Newman College.

A report to the council’s executive scrutiny committee details how a £20.454m funding pot from the Department of Transport is to be allocated.

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A further £.5m will be used to tackle road safety issues, £.5m to improve safety for cyclists and £.25m for repairs on public rights of way. Around 300 projects will be funded.

Meanwhile county councillors have had a say in the distribution of a £2.5m Local Priority Response Fund, set up by the council last year to invest in improvements to unclassified urban roads and footpaths.

County Coun John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport, who will approve the projects, dubbed the Priority Fund “very much a front door scheme.”

He said: “It’s all about the little things that mean so much to so many people....people want to know what is happening outside their front door.”

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County councillors were asked to nominate two schemes in their wards for the Priority scheme and Coun Fillis said: “As far as I’m concerned this is about local members giving something back. We asked each member to come up with two projects they feel were important to their local communities ... It was difficult for them as we realise our roads are not great at the moment. We’re working to put that right after a very difficult January with the floods and the wet weather.”

The biggest portion of the Department of Transport funding - some £8m - will be spent on maintaining major class A, B and C roads. Work on urban unclassified roads will use up £1.304m, with work on rural unclassified roads taking £1.050m.

Some £3m will go on footways, another £3m on bridges, £2m on remedying structural defects, £1m on drainage, £1m on streetlighting and £.1m on traffic signals.

Councillors will be advised the intention is that rather than reacting to deteriorations in the road network the council develops a more proactive, “preventative intervention” maintenance programme.

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The cash comes from a separate fund to that recently allocated by the Government for pothole repairs.

• Resurfacing projects on major roads will include: £202,777 to resurface/inlay Lancaster Street to the A5106 in Chorley, £300,688 for the B5259 Ribby Road Manor Road to Kirkham bypass roundabout £138,391 to resurface Melrose to Moorside villa on the B5269 Lewth Lane, Woodplumpton and £36,117 to resurface Preston’s Ringway from Rock FM to the prison.

• In South Ribble the Brownedge Road roundabout will be resurfaced at a cost of £18,979.

• Major road surface dressing, which provides a weather proof seal on roads, includes nine stretches of roadway in Chorley, one in Preston (from Woodside Avenue to Gamull Lane), ten in Ribble Valley, three in South Ribble, three in Fylde, seven in Lancaster, two in Garstang and more.

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Work on rural unclassified roads will include pre-patching surface dressing on Ashley Lane from Eaves Green Lane to Inglewhite Road and on Back Lane from Camforth Hall Lane to Cumeragh Lane.

• Road safety projects include £34,015 for a road marking scheme, central hatching strip and resurfacing on part of Belmont Road in Chorley Rural East and £49,923 for a new kerb build out south of the Gulf service station exit, with relocation of a lamp and gully on the A6 Lancaster New Road junction with the B6430 Lancaster Road, Garstang.

• Some 71 bridge projects will include £8,800 work on the Blackpool Road railway bridge and inspection of the Walton bridge on London Road.

• There will be eight cycling safety schemes, including cycle sign improvements in Preston’s Ribbleton Avenue and Longridge Road. There will also be improvements to a footpath at Elston Lane, Grimsargh.

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Council officers will be asked to identify further cycling schemes for the programme.

Projects range from cash for resurfacing part of Preston’s Ringway, to installing a pelican crossing outside Newman College.

A report to the council’s executive scrutiny committee detailed how a £20.454m funding pot from the Department of Transport is to be allocated.

A further £.5m will be used to tackle road safety issues, £.5m to improve safety for cyclists and £.25m for repairs on public rights of way. Around 300 projects will be funded.

Hide Ad
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Meanwhile county councillors have had a say in the distribution of a £2.5m Local Priority Response Fund, set up by the council last year to invest in improvements to unclassified urban roads and footpaths.

County Coun John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport, who will approve the projects today (Thursday June 14), dubbed the Priority Fund project “very much a front door scheme.”

He said: “It’s all about the little things that mean so much to so many people....people want to know what is happening outside their front door.”

County councillors were asked to nominate two schemes in their wards for the Priority scheme and Coun Fillis said: “As far as I’m concerned this is about local members giving something back. We asked each member to come up with two projects they feel were important to their local communities ... It was difficult for them as we realise our roads are not great at the moment. We’re working to put that right after a very difficult January with the floods and the wet weather.”

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The biggest portion of the Department of Transport funding - some £8m - will be spent on major class A, B and C roads. Work on urban unclassified roads will use up £1.304m, with work on rural unclassified roads taking £1.050m.

Some £3m will go on footways, another £3m on bridges, £2m on remedying structural defects, £1m on drainage, £1m on streetlighting and £.1m on traffic signals.

Councillors will be advised the intention is that rather than reacting to deteriorations in the road network the council develops a more proactive, “preventative intervention” maintenance programme.

The cash comes from a separate fund to that recently allocated by the Government for pothole repairs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

• Resurfacing projects on major roads will include: £202,777 to resurface/inlay Lancaster Street to the A5106 in Chorley, £300,688 for the B5259 Ribby Road Manor Road to Kirkham bypass roundabout £138,391 to resurface Melrose to Moorside villa on the B5269 Lewth Lane, Woodplumpton and £36,117 to resurface Preston’s Ringway from Rock FM to the prison.

• In South Ribble the Brownedge Road roundabout will be resurfaced at a cost of £18,979.

• Major road surface dressing, which provides a weather proof seal on roads, includes nine stretches of roadway in Chorley, one in Preston (from Woodside Avenue to Gamull Lane), ten in Ribble Valley, three in South Ribble, three in Fylde, seven in Lancaster, two in Garstang and more.

Work on rural unclassified roads will include pre-patching surface dressing on Ashley Lane from Eaves Green Lane to Inglewhite Road and on Back Lane from Camforth Hall Lane to Cumeragh Lane.

Hide Ad
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• Road safety projects include £34,015 for a road marking scheme, central hatching strip and resurfacing on part of Belmont Road in Chorley Rural East and £49,923 for a new kerb build out south of the Gulf service station exit, with relocation of a lamp and gully on the A6 Lancaster New Road junction with the B6430 Lancaster Road, Garstang.

• Some 71 bridge projects will include £8,800 work on the Blackpool Road railway bridge and inspection of the Walton bridge on London Road.

• There will be eight cycling safety schemes, including cycle sign improvements in Preston’s Ribbleton Avenue and Longridge Road. There will also be improvements to a footpath at Elston Lane, Grimsargh.

Council officers will be asked to identify further cycling schemes for the programme.