ROCHDALE'S LABOUR COUNCIL ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

The Government's new pothole rating is blunt, sitting as a reprimand for Rochdale's Labour Controlled Council, and yet nothing about it feels surprising. The Department for Transport’s traffic-light system was meant to make matters clearer, but for local people it only confirms what they already knew, the roads are failing and the council isn’t keeping up.

Local Liberal Democrats are saying what many residents feel, the council seems, at best, "asleep at the wheel". The wider best-practice scorecard flags Rochdale as not meeting the expected standards in key areas of road maintenance. That red warning isn’t just a colour; it’s evidence that routine care is slipping and basic standards are being missed.
Andy Lord, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Healey Ward, put it plainly, saying "Potholes are not abstract statistics, they are the burst tyre that ruins a week, the slow creep of frustration every time a child’s bike hits a hole, the accidents waiting to happen."
"It is shocking to see Rochdale marked red for failing to tackle potholes. This is due to years of Labour neglect and local mismanagement in our Town Hall, a double failure that leaves residents paying the price."
Liberal Democrats are calling for more than another dashboard colour. Andy added that "People want immediate, practical repairs and a commitment to sustained funding so that potholes do not keep returning. That demand is reasonable, and yet this failing Labour Council leaves local people weary of having to make it again and again."