SO the Government is to blame for our potholes ... well at least now we know.

Thanks to Clr Billy Lines-Rowlands for explaining that in his letter published last week in this newspaper.

But I’m delighted that he revealed that he is now an ‘expert’ on what causes potholes – no doubt time well spent. And I fully support his pledge to ‘get every single road repaired’.

He congratulates his fellow councillors on getting Cinnamon Lane off the reserve list and making it a priority – and it is great news that it is in the process of being repaired, no one can argue with that.

But is Clr Lines-Rowlands really trying to take the credit for sorting out the town’s potholes?

Complaints have been made over Cinnamon Lane for the past three years with Clr Geoff Settle campaigning for it to be resurfaced during that time.

And it was only last month that Clr Ian Marks, leader of the Lib Dems, said that the council was seeking new powers to give it more control over utility companies digging up the roads and therefore causing potholes. So Clr Lines-Rowlands’ ideas are not original.

The transport secretary has granted some councils extra powers to decide when utility companies dig up roads and Clr Marks has already told the Warrington Guardian that he welcomes this.

So scoring political points seems disingenuous when I am sure that potholes are likely to be an issue that all councillors, regardless of their party, are concerned about.

After two severe winters and an extremely wet summer last year, the roads in Warrington have deteriorated faster than ever before.

In fact last year the council coughed up in excess of £5,000 in compensation claims to more than 200 people due to potholes.

In June this year £2.2m was set aside by the council to repair the top 25 roads in the town suffering from potholes, cracks and bumps.

The list included Heath Lane in Croft, Chester Road in Stockton Heath and Wash Lane in Latchford.

And it’s not just our town that is suffering. The whole of Britain has a pothole crisis and the nation’s roads are not as safe as they once were.

Figures reveal that an average of around 10 potholes dot every mile of road in England and Wales, and the total number will pass two million for the first time this year.

Local authorities paid out more than £20 million in compensation last year to drivers whose vehicles were damaged by potholes.

Authorities in the north west paid out the most at £8 million, according to figures collated by the Asphalt Industry Association.

The backlog of road repairs in England is getting bigger and it is estimated that it would cost £12.93 billion to clear the entire road maintenance backlog in the UK.

Earlier this year Local Transport Minister Norman Baker said that the Government is providing councils with more than £3 billion between 2011 and 2015 to maintain their roads and pavements. It is ultimately up to the local authority to determine how to spend it.

So while the work on Cinnamon Lane is welcomed there are still many more roads to be tackled and it’s something that all our councillors need to work together on rather than wasting time point scoring.