Pothole laden Birkdale street ‘doesn’t require fixing’ say council

Potholes on Westbourne Road in Birkdale don’t need fixing say council highways experts after a political hopeful said he wanted them filled in.

A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “We were made aware of concerns over the road surface on Westbourne Road in September and subsequently conducted a site visit.

“Our highways experts determined that the defects identified at the time of inspection did not meet the councils repair intervention criteria.

“As with the entirety of our highways network, we will continue to monitor Westbourne Road and if any works are found to be required, we will action these within our regular routine safety inspections.”

The statement comes after local campaigner Mike Prendergast raised concerns over the conditions of the road surface along the busy stretch of road in Birkdale.

Mike said: “The route along Westbourne Road on to Grosvenor Road in Birkdale, up to the level crossing in at Crescent Road, is about a mile long. Most of this stretch of road is blighted with potholes and a severely damaged road surface, in places there appear to be potholes in the potholes! This obviously has the potential to damage vehicles and is a hazard for cyclists who very often have to swerve round some of the potholes.

“I am campaigning and working with local councillor Sir Ron Watson CBE to see if we can arrange for Sefton Council to resurface this stretch of road, or at the very least get some of the potholes filled in. The condition of the road in this part of Dukes Ward is very poor and as well as being an issue about the state of our local infrastructure it also presents road safety hazard as well.

“All local authorities are under a statutory duty to maintain the highway and local residents pay some of the highest Council Tax rates in the borough so it’s not unreasonable to expect that a busy road and bus route is maintained to a decent standard.”