Plans to spend £72m on roads after Reform UK sets first Lancashire County Council budget

A £72m programme to improve roads in Lancashire is set to be approved after the Reform UK county council set its first budget.

Plans to invest the money in maintaining and improving Lancashire’s highways and transport infrastructure in 2026/27 will be considered by Lancashire County Council cabinet on Thursday March 5.

The funding will support a wide‑ranging programme of work across the county, including road resurfacing, structural repairs, bridges, drainage and street lighting, with a strong focus on preventative maintenance and right first‑time repairs.

A county council spokesperson said the programme would be paid for by £48.5m of highway maintenance funding from the Department for Transport and a further £18.5m through the county council’s 2026/27 budget, alongside additional investment and carry over funding.

The spokesperson said the proposals also allow the council to continue investing in Lancashire’s A, B and C classified roads – the main routes most people use every day – while maintaining a risk‑based approach to other assets such as bridges, footways and lighting columns.

The investment follows the publication of the Department for Transport’s Local Road Maintenance Ratings, which rated Lancashire as amber overall.

"Lancashire residents deserve roads that are safe, reliable and repaired properly the first time," said County Councillor Warren Goldsworthy, cabinet member for highways and transport, below.

“This £72m programme allows us to focus on the routes people use every day, and make sure repairs last longer.

“It’s about using our limited resources to make sure the money we spend has the maximum impact on our roads – delivering value for money and helping residents feel proud of where they live.”

If approved, work will continue throughout 2026/27, alongside day‑to‑day reactive repairs.

Residents can continue to help prioritise work by reporting defects through the county council website.

BUDGET

The Lancashire County Council budget for 2026/7 was approved last Thursday.

The budget, the first since Reform UK took control of the council at last year's local elections, will pay for council services including schools, libraries, roads, disposing of waste, public health and supporting vulnerable children and older people.

The county council's share of Council tax, the biggest proportion of the annual bill paid by Lancashire residents, will go up 4.99 per cent overall - including two per cent for Adult Social Care.

The revenue budget has been set at £1,244.620m for 2026/7.

Of this £538.125m will be spent on Adult Services and £278.263 on Education and Children's Services.

Amongst the plans are a commitment to spend an extra £45m on highway repairs such as potholes over the next three years.

Schemes such as creating more SEND units at mainstream schools and creating more children's homes within the county to be run in-house by the council will continue.

County Councillor Alan Vincent, deputy leader, said: “Our finances are in a stable state thanks to many years of being prudent about our spending.

"In fact, I would say that 90 per cent of councils would love to swap places with us as we have money in reserves and we are able to balance the books.

"We are however still seeing growing demand in areas such as adults and children's services and we are working on innovative ways to ensure we best serve people while reducing some costs.

"Our children's home scheme is an example of this. Instead of paying for high cost child placements at independent children's homes, which could even be outside the county, we are creating our own homes that will be run by county council staff. That means that children stay closer to their roots, means we employ more Lancashire people and we save money for council tax payers.

"Another example is our new fleet of mini-buses for Home to School Transport for children and young people with SEND will also cut the cost of travelling to our special schools, while the creation of SEND units at mainstream schools means children and young people won't have to travel as far for their education.

"We also know that things like improving our roads are really important to people and that's why we are committed an extra £45m in the budget over the next three years, although we will look to spend this money as early as possible so people feel the benefit sooner.

"It still remains the case that costs like large public sector pay rises, National Insurance increases and inflation will all have an impact on ours costs making things challenging and has meant we have had to reluctantly increase council Tax.

"This, combined, with the fact that Government expects in its own calculations and distribution of monies that council tax will rise by 4.99% means we have no realistic choice but to reluctantly increase next financial year by that amount.”

ALTERNATIVE BUDGET PROPOSALS

Progressive Lancashire, the opposition group made up of Green councillors from Lancaster and independents, challenged Reform's budget at the meeting on Thursday.

They created an alternative budget which included prioritising funding for the modernisation of council-run care homes and day centres that are threatened with closure, including the highly valued Vale View day care service in Skerton.

“Our alternative budget put money where it is needed to protect the most vulnerable in our communities and to protect our streets and local communities," said County Councillor Gina Dowding, below.

“Sadly - but not surprisingly - Reform rejected our fully costed key points for investment, including £4m support for modernisation of care homes and day care centres which would have future proofed the services and put the minds of hundreds of users and their families at rest."

At the meeting, County Councillor Dowding backed using part of the public health grant reserves for a range of health promotion initiatives including life coaches focussed on mental health outcomes for young people; drug misuse prevention; accreditation of Lancashire as a Dementia Friendly County; and to fulfil previous county commitments regarding prevalence of Long Covid, ME/CFS and other post viral conditions.

Green County Councillor Paul Stubbins also proposed changes to the gully cleansing programme to allow more reactive increases, and for an additional £5.5m fund for Community Safety Highway schemes like pedestrian crossings; quality pavement repairs; additional mobility crossings and dropped kerbs. Greens also explicitly sought to increase capacity in the residents parking team, to ensure schemes are progressed.

"I am astonished that Reform councillors rejected every part of our budget suggestions, and those of the other smaller opposition groups," said County Councillor Stubbins.

"If Reform had wanted to - they could have included some of these measures in their budget."

Another Green from Lancaster, County Councillor Hamish Mills, said the budget was "a massive disappointment".

"It is a continuation of the budget legacy of the Tories and fails to address the significant issues which were the focus of the Progressive Lancashire and Green amendment," said County Councillor Mills.

"Reform have refused to accept our constructive proposals in the interest of political pride and point scoring. They used baseless excuses to oppose our amendment."

In addition to funding the threatened care homes and day centres, Progressive Lancashire’s alternative budget proposed £700,000 for gully cleansing and surface water management, £80,000 to increase staff capacity on residential parking schemes, and members grant increases.

A post on the Lancashire County Council Conservatives Facebook page said on Thursday: "Sadly our amendment to Reform's budget was rejected today.

"We sought to add the following:

"£5m to fix potholes - this needs no explanation.

"More Inspectors to keep a check on the works utility companies do on our roads - better repairs and less unwanted traffic lights.

"Small Grant Schemes for our parish and town councils and community groups, to help the maintain our war memorials and public rights of way.

"More funding for library books and e-books as well as for Crowdfund Lancashire schemes.

"We do however welcome the commitment from the Reform administration to take these ideas away and look at them, so hopefully they will appear at some point in the future."