Travelling through Kendal before the construction of the M6 and continuing when I first came to work in Kendal 40 years ago, I was struck by the colour of the tarmac road surfaces which, on all the major roads, instead of the usual grey colour was an attractive red.
 

Unfortunately when you travel along the same roads in Kendal today, as red tarmac is no longer used, you can so easily see the degree of ‘patching’ of the road surface that has occurred over the period and more significantly see that long stretches of road have never been re-tarmaced for at least 40 years.  Hence the ‘giveaway’.
 

When you survey the section of Blackhall Road at the junction with Stramongate, which is literally falling apart and other stretches of major roads that are urgently in need of repair and compare that with the amount of work carried out on Stramongate bridge and into New Road to create a cycle route (which appears to be so little used) and recently money to relay substantial lengths of roads (Vicarage Drive, Natland Mill Beck Lane and Helm Lane in Natland) and in addition create a new cycle track next to the pavement along Burton Road, currently in progress, you start to wonder what are the authorities priorities.

William Hanes

Kendal