AN independent report has warned that much more work needs to be done to repair and improve Bolton's crumbling roads.

The Audit Commission's inspection team has given the town's highways team just one star out of three.

The poor rating follows a Bolton Evening News Pothole Watch campaign highlighting the public's concern about the state of roads around the borough.

Inspectors have now made a number of recommendations to the council to help improve the service they provide including a regular inspection regime and a routine maintenance programme for road markings. They have also advised the council to ensure that the consultation with local people before, during and after roadworks is effective. One man who has voiced his concerns about the state of roads is Blackrod taxi driver, Roy Welburn-Sutton, of Aines Road. He said: "Some work has been done in Blackrod, but Vicarage Road is still like a big dipper. Patches of work have been done, but it's such a big job."

Bolton's potholed roads have been reported on extensively in the Bolton Evening News and described as death traps which do not even reach "third world" standards by some angry critics.

In 2000, planning bosses at the council set up a pothole hot-line for the public to ring in and report serious problems on the town's roads. This resulted in roads all over the borough being highlighted, and council workmen were sent out to repair a series of key routes.

Les Wardle, secretary of the town's Advanced Motorists group, has attacked the condition of Bolton's roads in the Advanced Motorists' newsletter claiming they were not fit enough to carry "cattle trucks."

The report by the Audit Commission recognised that improvements have been made in Bolton, and that the service has good equipment in place to carry out surveys and manage information on the highways.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "We have taken the recommendations on board and have already started to introduce changes detailed in the report. We are confident that over the last year, the Bolton public have seen the improvements, and we hope to continue these developments.

"This year we will be spending nearly £15 million on repairs and improvements".