I was born and raised in Blackburn, a town famous for - among other things - being immortalised in song by The Beatles.

"I read the news today oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire."

The lyric is from 'A Day in the Life', written by Lennon and McCartney, and the final track of the album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in May 1967.

Inspired by contemporary newspaper articles, John Lennon chanced upon the story of Blackburn's pothole problem - there were lots of them. So many in fact that he went on to observe:

"And though the holes were rather small

They had to count them all

Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

I'd love to turn you on."

Blackburn was not best pleased to have its 4,000 potholes placed on the global stage, and neither was the Albert Hall.

Papers that came to light in 2015 revealed that the iconic London venue wrote to the Beatles in 1967 to object "in the strongest conceivable terms" to being named in the song.

In a letter to Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager, the Hall's then chief executive, Mr Ernest O'Follipar, told the band that the "wrong-headed assumption that there are four thousand holes in our auditorium" threatened to destroy its business overnight.

In the end, Blackburn, The Beatles and the Albert Hall emerged unscathed from the controversy, though when John Lennon wittily refused to apologise for his lyrics, the Hall ruled that 'A Day in the Life' should never be performed there.

So what has this got to do with Wirral in general and the Heswall district in particular?

Well, apart from the band having strong connections with both the borough and the town, news from the Department of Transport has revealed that there could be enough potholes in England to fill 25,000 Albert Halls.

And now, councils across England, including Wirral, have been allocated their share of £500 million for highways maintenance, with the funding expected to fix the equivalent of 10 million potholes across the country.

It is the second instalment from the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund, providing £500 million a year between 2020/21 and 2024/25, announced by the Chancellor in the 2020 Budget – and is part of wider funding the Department provides for road maintenance, totalling over £1.1 billion across England in 2021/22.

With the average pothole costing around £50 to fill in, the funding will ensure that the equivalent of 10 million potholes can be repaired, making thousands of local roads both safer and easier to drive and cycle on.

Transport Minister Baroness Vere said: "We know potholes are more than just a nuisance – they can be dangerous to drivers and cyclists alike, and cause damage to thousands of vehicles every year.

"The funding allocated today will help councils ensure roads in their area are kept up to standard, and that the potholes that blight road users can be dealt with promptly."

The Department has already invested heavily in pothole filling since 2015, including the £296 million Pothole Action Fund which ran from 2015/16 – 2020/21. It also topped up highway maintenance investment in 2018 with a one-off £420 million boost to all highway authorities in England, including London.

If you want to Be More John Lennon and help count and bring local potholes to the world's attention, you can report them to Wirral Council by clicking or tapping here.