Last updated 10:05, Wednesday, 23 April 2008

FROM potholes to moneypits... Cumbria’s roads just get worse and worse.

The sight of temporary traffic lights and rows of bollards is nothing new to motorists across the county. And the situation reached crisis point in recent weeks as floods have followed a cold snap.

The weather has created more cracks and holes in an already fragile infrastructure.

Potholed and badly maintained highways contribute to the number of accidents, causing hold-ups for those travelling to work or making deliveries and in some cases, serious injury and death.

Our roads have been getting steadily worse for years and the winter weather of past weeks has only added to an already serious and increasingly worrying problem.

The longer we fail to make these vital repairs, the worse the problems become and more of our money needs to be spent in what seems to be a rapidly deepening black hole.

Which is why we say well done to Labour leader Stewart Young and four rebel Tories who have pushed through a county council £1m emergency repair scheme. It is still not enough, but it will go a lot further than the £500,000 suggested by council leader, Conservative Tim Stoddard.

It is shaming that we can only afford to repair our roads every 50 years – literally once in a lifetime – rather than the nationally-recommended period of once every seven years.

We simply can’t afford to neglect our highways. More pressure must be put on central government by our local authorities and our MPs to ensure we get the money.