THE Bolton News on Friday, August 29,reported that potholes take 47 years to repair. This is outrageous. The Con-Lib Dem Government is wasting some £50 to £60 billion on the HS2 project which so many people, including myself, have been against since its conception.

It would cost an estimated £16 to £20 billion to repair all the roads in England and Wales, which in turn would save industry millions and improve efficiency.

For anyone owning a bicycle to a car it would cut repair bills and it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. It would still leave some £30 to £40billion to spend on the railways and on bus services which would make life for the hard-working British people so much better.

It would create a happier society with less stress but no, our politicians like to be seen cutting ribbons on gigantic projects; they like being responsible for the big things in life.

Anyway it’s only the ‘great unwashed’ who commute according to a Tory minister when there was talk of making MPs travel second-class. What a diabolical statement.

If it is going to take 47 years to repair our roads by then most of the people reading this letter will be dead.

Thank you Mr Cameron and the Lib Dems for saying that we cannot live without HS2. Twenty years ago I might have possibly agreed. Today you could be on Mars and run a business! You do not need to travel, as, with all sophisticated means of communication, it doesn’t matter where you are.

Does Richard Branson stop work when he’s on his Caribbean island in the middle of nowhere? Can nobody get in touch with him? I very much doubt it.

To spend the money in this way would bring benefits to everybody not just the few.

It would kick start the economy in every town and every village and it would be virtually instant.

Why can’t our politicians help the majority of our hard- working people and the unemployed for once and not just not the minority but in truth the rich will make a fortune out of the HS2 project.

Ian Greenhalgh Bolton