BOLTON Council has been accused of cutting corners when fixing up roads in Farnworth.

Work on resurfacing a number of roads in the area has come in for criticism.

Buckley Lane, Piggott Street and Albert Road were surfaced by the council at the start of the month using recognised industry methods, but the results have failed to impress Mayfield Avenue resident Douglas Hall.

Mr Hall, aged 58, said it was as if the council had employed builders using left-over asphalt to appease restless residents in Farnworth but the results were "sub-standard".

He said: "My view is we have suffered in Farnworth for a long time with lack of investment generally and the roads are particularly poor.

"It is meant to be resurfacing but the work undertaken, in my mind, is very poor quality. They have not done what is normally expected which is to strip down the road to its lowest level and resurface from there.

"They have just spread asphalt over the existing asphalt and laid stones over the top. It's just a quick fix. It's already shown signs of wear and that it's not going to last that long.

"When the council do spend money it seems to waste it rather than investing in a proper job. When the winter and bad weather returns it will break up so they have spent money on a quick fix and in six to 12 months they will have to come back and do it all again."

Following on from the work on the three roads, Buckley Lane was fully resurfaced by the council.

A council spokesman said the methods used to on the programme of surface dressing was a "long-established, industry standard method" which prevents

further deterioration of the road surface and extends the life of a road by a number of years.

They added: “Surface dressing involves spraying bitumen onto the road surface and then covering it with a layer of chippings.

"A natural part of the process is some loose chippings and that is why we have put up advisory warning signs.

"Any residual chippings will also be swept up periodically by our contractors."