A PLAGUE of pot-holes has broken out in Pendle after a 75 per cent cut in the area's roads repairs fund in just eight years, according to local Liberals.

The party revealed that Labour-controlled Lancashire County Council has cut Pendle's allocation for repairs to roads and pavements from £1,246,360 in 1991/92 to £463,800 this year.

Claims for injuries on the highway due to the holes and broken pavements in the borough have reached £219,000.

Pendle Liberals said the repair figures amounted to a cut of around two-thirds before allowing for inflation and around three-quarters in real terms.

"It is no wonder there is a plague of pot-holes in Pendle," said the party's highways spokesman Councillor Ian Gilhespy.

"Not only is Pendle getting less cash but as agent for the county council the money also has to cover a larger area than in 1991," he added.

"This is the result of so many years of Labour control at Preston."

Fellow Liberal councillor Tim Haigh said the amount paid out to people injured by broken roads in Pendle was £50,000 more this year than the total spent on major resurfacing work but not including work on filling in the pot-holes.

"It is a catalogue of shame on the county council," he claimed.

"Under Labour control of the county council Pendle's roads are falling into rack and ruin."

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