Pothole repair data prompts goalpost shifting claim

A row has broken out over the condition of a county's roads after the politician in charge of them claimed they were now in a "fantastic state" while opposition councillors accused the council of lowering targets.

Reform-led Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for highways, Warren Goldsworthy, was speaking after pothole repair data was published for the first time in almost a year.

Figures for October 2025 to March were redacted which the authority said was due to changes in the way they were reported by a contractor carrying out some repair work on its behalf, making them incomparable to previous periods.

Conservative group leader Aidy Riggott said roads were "in a terrible state".

Since the introduction of a new IT system in spring the target figure had been shown as a "highways index', scored out of 10, which was based on a number of elements which had percentage scores for how quickly defects were fixed, a council meeting was told.

The target had been cut from nine out of 10 to 7.3 since figures were last made public in November, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council's Conservative group claimed the authority had moved the goalposts it used to measure success.

Opposition members said the experience of the roads in their own areas was at odds with the positive picture being painted by Reform.

But Goldsworthy accused them of peddling "anecdotal nonsense" and said he had evidence there was not currently a single reported pothole waiting more than the maximum target time of 20 days for repair.

The "highways index" was 8.7 out of 10 in April to June which showed "we are exceeding on key measures" and the council was "heading into the winter in a far better and stronger position", he said.

Conservative group deputy leader Peter Buckley said the highways performance target was now 1.7 points lower.

"Yes you are above target," he said. "That is because the target value has reduced."

Querying the data, Riggott said one pothole he had reported was still not repaired after 20 days.

Mohammed Iqbal, from main opposition group Progressive Lancashire, offered to take Goldsworthy on a "tour" of his ward to see potholes he had reported but which were still there and "getting worse".

Liberal Democrat Mark Jewell cited a stretch of Blackpool Road as an example of where a "complete repair" in an area of multiple potholes would have made more sense than repeat visits.

The council's budget for highways maintenance is for £88.9m for 2026-27.

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