Satisfaction with roads across Blackburn with Darwen has fallen to just 10 per cent in a recent survey.

The research, conducted by the National Highways and Transport Network, which surveyed more than 71,000 people nationally in the early part of the summer asked if the number of potholes and damaged roads in the local area was better, worse or stable compared to the previous year.

In Blackburn with Darwen, just one in 10 responded positively about the borough's roads, while in the Lancashire County Council area - which covers roads in Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, the Ribble Valley and Rossendale - the figure was even lower at seven per cent.

Last year more than 6,700 potholes were repaired within 10 working days in Blackburn with Darwen, and where necessary repaired individually until the road could be resurfaced.

In September, Blackburn with Darwen’s executive member for growth, Cllr Quesir Mahmood said that potholes were one of the biggest sources of complaints to the authority and admitted almost 500 of those reported last year failed to meet the minimum depth for repair.

The criteria for repairs in the borough is that footway potholes need to be 25 millimetres deep, the same as a two-pence coin, whilst on a road it needs to be the same depth as a golf ball, 40mm.

In 2023, 85,000 potholes were reported across Lancashire, the highest for any shire authority in England.

The authority said that it did not keep separate records for pothole repairs, but it conducted 6,754 highway defect repairs including potholes at this time.

Costs to bring pothole-plagued roads up to scratch have been estimated to cost £16.3 billion.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her budget last month that the government will aim to fund work to fix an additional one million potholes in the 2024/25 financial year by increasing local road maintenance funding in England by £500 million to nearly £1.6 billion.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “For too long, this country has suffered from a pothole plague, which is why we’re investing a further £500 million in local highways maintenance funding next year, going beyond our original commitment to support local leaders to fix up to a million more potholes annually.

“We want to achieve this in the most cost-efficient way for the taxpayer by providing local authorities with multi-year funding settlements, enabling them to better maintain their roads and avoid potholes in the first place.”

Blackburn with Darwen and LCC have been contacted for comment.