We live on forgotten north Manchester road that's plagued by potholes and fly-tipping

Residents on an ‘out-of-sight’ road in north Manchester say their street is in such poor condition that ‘it looks like the Somme’ when it rains.

Those living on Lion Brown, in Blackley, say the road is in such poor condition that potholes and fly-tipping plague their lives daily. The issues come about because Lion Brown is unadopted, which means it’s ‘not a publicly maintained highway’ — so the council doesn’t need to look after it.

To adopt the road, council bosses say it needs to be brought up to an ‘acceptable standard’ at the cost of residents, which they say will cost them £26,000. David Hopes, who works in museum services and lives on the street off Rochdale Road, describes it as ‘a third world street in a first world city’.

“It’s not good enough for local residents, we deserve better,” he added. “There have been no material changes when the issues are easily fixable.”

David also said that fly-tipping was a regular occurrence on the road, with a dump in late February seeing an ironing board, bed, and garden waste discarded by residents’ homes. Another resident, who wishes to stay anonymous, said the ‘road is disgusting’ and that ‘it just keeps getting worse’.

“The road is out of way, out of sight, out of mind,” he added when asked why he thought the council hadn’t done more for residents. However, Coun Lee-Ann Igbon — the authority’s executive member for neighbourhoods — said the council is ‘fully aware’ of the problems, and is looking at installing more measures to prevent fly-tipping.

“We are fully aware of the Lion Brow residents’ concerns and our neighbourhood teams have met with them to discuss measures to address concerns across a number of anti-social issues,” Coun Igbon added in a statement. “We share their outrage as we do not want local communities blighted with rubbish. It has a detrimental effect on an area and we are supporting the residents to prevent this happening.

“As our eyes and ears in the community we are encouraging them to report incidents online, but also to inform the Neighbourhood Team, so that officers can investigate, and where possible, collect evidence to prosecute offenders. We are also looking into additional preventative measures and are currently in discussions around the potential use of CCTV and physical barriers.

“We will continue to meet with and work closely with the local community and the neighbourhood policing team, who have recently met the residents to proactively manage residents’ concerns around criminal and anti-social behaviour in the area. As the road is unadopted, the council is not responsible for its maintenance, although we have on a few occasions carried out some work to fill potholes, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the residents and the official process for the road to be adopted by the council would also be at their expense.”