Concerns over potholes on Platt Lane, Westhoughton

Westhoughton councillor Arthur Price has asked the council to fill in potholes on Platt Lane after residents have contacted him about their worries.

One resident told him that cars were avoiding the potholes, almost running them over.

Liberal Democrats representative, Cllr Price, said: “The issues being raised are where these potholes are they are quite wide and deep, and cars are now swerving to try and avoid them because obviously they do damage to the cars, but it is also a very narrow road so it’s now becoming dangerous because when they are swerving to miss these potholes they are actually going in line with oncoming traffic.

“And I have had somebody ring me and tell me they were actually on the footpath, and they nearly got knocked down because of these cars swerving from these potholes.

“The thing is now Bolton Council is now saying that they are not wide enough or not deep enough to be filled in so how wide and how deep do they want them when people’s lives are at risk.

Cllr Arthur Price next to a pothole on Platt Lane (Image: Cllr Arthur Price)

“They have gone worse because there are buildings down there, they are building those new houses and Bolton Council are not two minutes at building houses in Westhoughton, but they are not very good at dealing with the infrastructure.

“And because of the house buildings there is traffic and there’s been heavy wagons going down, not saying they have caused them, but they have been going down whilst they have been building the houses.

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“But to say they are not deep enough or wide enough when there are near accidents, it is just silly.

“Do they want them that deep that a car falls down them?”

The council have been out to inspect the potholes on Platt Lane, and said they do not pose a risk and don’t meet intervention levels.

A council spokesperson said: “An inspection was carried out by the council on January 21, 2023 and no defects were noted as meeting our intervention levels of 40mm for a pothole.

Another pothole on Platt Lane, Westhoughton (Image: Cllr Arthur Price)

“We are aware that the surface is stripping and there are areas which are unsightly with the top surface eroding, but these are not deemed to be hazardous.

“All highway authorities adopt an intervention criteria.

“Our investigatory/intervention level is 40mm deep and at the time of the inspection, there was nothing that met our criteria.

“In addition, we are not aware of any road traffic collision or vehicle damage claims relating to this complaint.

“We will however ask the inspector to revisit to see if there has been any further deterioration.”

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @chloewjourno.