HIGHWAYS teams have been driving forward the council’s multi-million-pound investment scheme to improve the condition of the borough’s roads.

In preparation for National Pothole Day tomorrow, Wednesday, Wigan Council officers have been out in Worsley Hall repairing defects.

And the start of the year will see teams carry out works on Twist Lane and Wigan Road in Leigh, the East Lancashire Road (Liverpool bound) in Golborne, Hall Lane in Hindley and Scot Lane in Aspull among others.

Department for Transport (DfT) figures show only three per cent of A roads and two per cent of B and C roads in Wigan borough are in need of repair.

According to the statistics, the borough is joint second across Greater Manchester for the percentage of A roads needing repairs and joint top when it comes to B/C classified roads.

While the percentage of minor highway repairs completed on time throughout the borough has increased by 15 per cent in the last 12 months.

The catalyst for the improvement has been a sustained two-year investment programme in which the local authority pledged to spend £8.4m across two years repairing and preventing potholes.

Central to this was the announcement made last year by council leader Cllr David Molyneux, in which he vowed to ringfence £3.3m of council funding for road repairs after acknowledging the concerns of residents.

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Cabinet member for environment at the council, Cllr Paul Prescott, said: “We understand how important a reliable road network is for residents and businesses, that is why improving our roads is always a priority for the council and why we have committed the millions of pounds needed to ensure motorists and cyclists can enjoy rides that are as smooth as possible.

“While National Pothole Day puts the spotlight on roads for one day of the year, our teams work tirelessly all year round to make sure roads are as safe possible for everyone to use with the vast majority of defects repaired at the earliest possible date.”

The borough’s network spans 1,160km.

In the last financial year highway teams have resurfaced 35km of carriageway and nearly 2km of footway.

Typically, Wigan Council spends around £1m carrying out 10,500 minor repairs to the borough’s carriageways and footways, each year.

Cllr Prescott added: “Our proactive approach along with the significant investment has proved successful with the latest Department for Transport data identifying the vast strides that have been made in tackling road defects.”

“For classified roads, made up of A, B and C classification roads, the borough is top performing within Greater Manchester for the low percentage of roads that have been assessed as being in need of maintenance soon.”

To report a highway defect, such as a pothole, then this can be done on-line via the council website www.wigan.gov.uk or by the Report It app.

The full list of repair schemes and the progress on delivery can accessed by residents clicking here.