ANGRY residents today called for an unmade and pot-holed road in Burnley to be adopted after 25 years and said: "We have struggled for long enough."

The call for David Street in the Burnley Wood area to be adopted by Burnley Borough Council came after a 70-year-old woman fell and injured her leg.

Eileen Rowland, who lives in David Street, needed seven weeks' treatment.

She said: "I fell because the road surface is very uneven and it is was difficult for me to keep balance. After the fall I got ulcers on my legs and became so poorly I couldn't get out because of the state the street is in. Taxi drivers think twice about coming up here because their cars get damaged and I was stuck inside because I couldn't risk going out."

Mrs Rowland contacted the council about the road and was told the authority could adopt the road if all the residents in the street were willing to pay £800 towards the repairs.

She said: "If I could afford £800 I wouldn't be living here in the first place."

William Durkin, 83, also of David Street, said his wife, Ellen, 87, struggled to get out too.

He said: "Everytime Ellen wants to go out I have to get my son to pick her up, so he can reverse his car to the top of the street. He has damaged it in the past coming up here. He has to do our shopping for us because we can't walk up with the road with our bags.

"We've struggled long enough and it is about time the council helped us instead of fobbing us off with their lame excuses."

Resident Mike Higgins, 50, a landscaper who has lived in David Street all his life, said: "The council has carried out a few repairs, but when we asked them to do something about the pot holes in the road we were told that they had unadopted the road and it was out of their hands.

"The bin men struggle to get up, they have to reverse up so they can get back down again many a time knocking the flagging off the pavement. In winter people have no chance of being able to get out because all the water runs down from the hills, causing excessive flooding or black ice. "

Michael Birdsall property consultancy manager at Burnley council said: "The council did look at the cost of doing up all the private roads to bring them up to standard a few years ago and it was about £4million.

"The council can't do all of them. With a private road the council can serve notices on all the frontages and ask for a proportion of the cost to be paid.

"If you buy a house on a private road you know you've got a liability. It is taken into account and you pay less in terms of council tax and have a lower council tax banding.

"The council does have powers to serve a notice on all the frontages, but some residents can't afford £800. It is not a power we would use without serious thought."