State of Wigan roads revealed by new research

And Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) research also shows that Wigan is among a number of councils that failed to spend the allocated budget for road repairs last year.

This is despite spiralling complaints over damaged asphalt nationally, in some cases by more than 20 per cent.

By not keeping on top of pothole proliferation and using up all availagle funding, the FSB say that this will lead to growing backlogs and increased complaints.

For the financial year of 2021/22 Wigan failed to use 6.6 per cent of the cash awarded to them for road maintenance: that translates into £72,000 not deployed when it could have been.

Meanwhile the number of complaints in the last year increased significantly since 2018/19, rising from 1,769 to 3,902 recorded complaints throught the year.

Robert Downes, FSB Development Manager for Greater Manchester, said: “Our latest research shows complaints over potholes are up, and the number of claims for damage to vehicles continues to climb higher in most council areas even though road traffic is down significantly with the pandemic triggering a work from home culture.

"Despite this four-out-of-the 10 authorities in Greater Manchester are underspending their road repair budget - and in some cases by significant amounts. Why is this?”

The Wigan road that received the most complaints in the 2021/22 financial year is Slag Lane in Lowton, having previously neem Winstanley Road in Billinge.