Manchester City Council has caused controversy with an online message linked to local reporting of ‘traffic danger hotspots’, which states there is ‘no money to tackle this problem at the moment’.
The message shocked a resident who had reported such issues to the council, which has around £5m for pothole and drainage repair a year and just over £2m for planned maintenance.
Manchester town hall
The full message reads: 'We do not have any money to tackle this at the moment. But we are collecting all reports like this and will look at it again when funds become available.'
Cllr Rosa Battle, Manchester City Council's executive member for environment, said: ‘We can understand why this has caused the local resident concern. It is the case that our funding is focussed on highways maintenance at this point in time and there is very limited funding for road improvements.
‘However, we always take complaints very seriously and we are currently reviewing how we respond to residents' concerns as part of a major service review of highways.’
A council spokesman explained to Transport Network that the online service is currently under major review, and the automated response is only a holding statement.
Part of the review will focus on communication with residents, which the council accepts does need to improve.
However the spokesman hit back at suggestions this message relates to standard pothole repairs.
The council stressed that the form is to report concerns people have with road safety issues such as dangerous junctions - and these results are saved. There is a separate dedicated pothole/maintenance form.
Pothole reports are still being actioned in the usual way, the council confirmed, and every reported pothole is inspected within five days; depending on severity it is fixed within 20 working days.
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