Sykes demands answers on Government’s promised pothole cash

Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE has written to Councillor Chris Goodwin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Highways, calling for urgent clarity after it emerged that Oldham Council has overspent by around £35,000 on pothole repairs — even before the worst of the winter weather set in.

In his letter, Sykes highlights that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has recently announced a new £7.3 billion national pot for local road maintenance over the next four years. However, a far greater share of this funding — rising from just 8% to around 30% — will now depend on councils meeting tough new transparency requirements, including detailed reporting of pothole and road maintenance data.

Councillor Sykes is seeking answers on three key points:

• Whether Oldham Council intends to bid for this new round of road maintenance funding;
• How much Oldham can realistically expect to receive under the new transparency-linked rules;
• How much funding Oldham previously received from the government’s earlier £1.6 billion highways funding round.

Councillor Sykes said, "Oldham’s roads are in a terrible state, and residents rightly expect answers. At a time when the Council is already overspending on pothole repairs, we cannot afford to miss out on vital national funding — especially now that the Government has made transparency a key condition of accessing it.

“People deserve to know whether this administration has a credible plan to fix our roads and whether we are in line to receive the funding that has been promised.  The public expect action, not excuses.”

Councillor Sykes has requested a prompt response so that residents can be assured that Oldham is doing everything possible to secure its fair share of funding and deliver long-overdue improvements to the borough’s failing road network.