Blackpool to lead in pothole spotting

The authority will lead seven other councils in a scheme involving cameras mounted on vehicles to collect road and pavement data.

The resort will get £100,000 to play a major role - on top of an extra £147,000 to spend on pothole repairs announced today.

The Government is providing a £100m pothole pot to be shared by local authorities where roads have been badly-hit by the ravages of the winter weather.

Blackpool’s share is £146,983 to be spent on additional repair work.

Lancashire County Council is getting an extra £2.4m from the fund to tackle its epidemic of potholes - one of the largest amounts handed out to councils across the UK.

As part of the scheme the Government is investing more than £900,000 in innovations using connected vehicles to help councils more efficiently manage and plan maintenance works.

The trials, being led by Blackpool, will ultimately help provide councils with data to enable them to repair potholes before they occur as well as maintain their other assets more effectively as part of their asset management plans.

This will help prevent further potholes and other road defects occurring over time.

Blackpool’s role will see high definition cameras mounted on vehicles to collect data on road and path conditions, which will then be analysed by computers to highlight where roads are deteriorating.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

Pothole pot

Blackpool’s share of the new government pothole fund will total almost £250,000.

On top of the £100,000 the council will get to be the lead authority on the digital inspector scheme, it will also receive £146,983 to help repair more potholes following a damaging winter.

Lancashire County Council is in the top six for pothole funding from the £100m of extra money pledged by the government today.

It gets £2,393,218, with only Lincolnshire (£3,457,324), Norfolk (£3,448,743), North Yorkshire (£3,285,049), Essex (£2,602,886) and Suffolk (£2,454,918) receiving more.

Manchester gets just £438,956 and Liverpool £481,702.