Langley Lane is the most complained about road in the Rochdale borough

An annual survey looking at the health of local roads in Greater Manchester has shown a surge in the number of complaints recorded over potholes since the pandemic – with Langley Lane in Middleton being named the most complained about in the Rochdale Borough.

The research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also reveals a number of councils last year failed to spend their allocated budget for road repairs despite spiralling complaints over damaged tarmac. This included Rochdale, which spent £3.26m of its £3.56m budget.

The FSB – which usually carries out the research every year but paused during the pandemic – say the data shows some councils are struggling to carry out repair work that will be leading to growing backlogs and increased complaints.

The FSB research, carried out through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to councils, shows Rochdale had one of the highest number of complaints about potholed roads (4,307, the third highest of the 10 councils) and one of the highest number of legal claims for damage (169, again the third highest).

Manchester Council had the highest number of legal claims for damage to vehicles by poorly maintained roads at 248 claims last year. Salford had the lowest.

Stockport Council had the highest number of complaints about potholed roads, with 8,770 complaints – equivalent to around 24 a day. The council with the fewest complaints was Tameside with 1,651 for the year.

Robert Downes, FSB Development Manager for Greater Manchester, said: “Langley Lane is in a sorry state. The picture [above] shows just a short section but in fact a large swathe looks much like this. It’s pretty shocking the road’s been allowed to get that bad, particularly as it’s a busy road which indirectly feeds two junctions of the M62 motorway. When that surface is replaced it will almost certainly require partial closure over a number of days, and will cause significant disruption and inconvenience to local businesses and people.

“Potholes don’t appear overnight, they take months and years to form – and it’s not like road users aren’t making their feelings known. Langley Lane is the most complained about road in Rochdale, so if councils know they have an issue in a particular place it’s their duty to act.

“Rochdale Council can’t claim they didn’t have the funds either; our research shows they underspent their road repair budget by nearly 9% last year. What lies behind this inaction? It’s perhaps no surprise Rochdale has the third highest number of complaints relating to potholes in GM.”

Responding, Councillor Danny Meredith, the council’s cabinet member for housing and highways, said: “Langley Lane was recently resurfaced by our highways team so I hope that regular users of the road notice the improvements that have been made.

“More work is planned across the borough as part of our regular road improvement programme, including sites in Heywood and Kirkholt and we are constantly checking road conditions throughout the borough to see which resurfacing jobs need to be prioritised.”