What matters most to Lancashire County Council election voters?

From concerns about the effects of immigration on local services to frustration about the state of the roads, many of you have been having your say ahead of Thursday's Lancashire County Council election.

As part of the BBC's Your Voice, Your Vote project, people have been getting in touch from across the Red Rose county to say what issues matter most to them ahead of polling stations opening on 1 May.

All 84 seats at the local authority are up for grabs in what could be the last election at County Hall before a major restructuring of local government takes place.

The county council is the only local authority in Lancashire to be holding elections this year.

Here we look at two of the biggest issues highlighted on the Your Voice, Your Vote platform, together with responses from the biggest five parties battling for your vote.

Immigration is the dominant issue for Lancashire voters at this election, according to comments submitted to the BBC.

Your Voice, Your Vote respondent Sandy Holland said: "Small boat illegal entry to Britain filters down locally as well as nationally.

"The cost affects the economy, which affects public spending, which affects public services."

Another Lancashire resident, Colin Heaton, said there were "not enough houses, hospital and prisons to cope".

For the Conservatives, Alan Vincent said: "Immigration has got too high, too many people coming in, and we need to do something about it.

"But at a county level there is very little we can do as we don't make the policy, we carry out what the government asks us to."

Labour's Matthew Tomlinson agreed that "this is a national issue - when people arrive on our shores [we need to] process them quickly and decide whether they are eligible to stay or not."

For the Liberal Democrats, David Howarth said: "We need people coming in to the country with skills that, at the moment, our own workforce doesn't have.

"There are concerns about economic migrants - that is completely different to people coming here as refugees."

Gina Dowding, who represents the Green Party, said: "Everyone is feeling the pinch and in some cases looking for someone to blame.

"Services are being squeezed but that's not necessarily the fault of immigration."

For Reform UK, Stephen Atkinson said: "People feel really disenfranchised.

"It doesn't feel fair to people that legitimate asylum seekers are going through a fair process and people are circumventing that process and coming in on a small boat."

Concerns about the state of the county's roads and public transport were also much discussed by Lancastrians.

BBC News audience member Eric McEvoy said: "Potholes, potholes, potholes, potholes. Potholes are a significant risk to cyclists, motorcyclists, car drivers and yes, even pedestrians."

Tony Ford is not only concerned about potholes though. Rather, the Your Voice, Your Vote respondent said he was worried about "rough surfaces, dips in the road, poorly repaired roads, patches after patches."

Meanwhile, fellow Lancashire resident Mani Kirkbride was worried about public transport, specifically "the cost of train fares".

So what can be done at a local level to address their concerns?

Matthew Tomlinson, for Labour, said "more devolution is needed and the rail service needs to be nationalised".

The Greens' Gina Dowding said: "There's a major opportunity to take back control of our bus franchises, like Greater Manchester has done with the Bee Network.

"Our vision is to have that across the whole of Lancashire."

On the subject of pot holes, the Conservatives' Rupert Swarbrick said his party had already announced that "we would find an extra £45m over the next three years in order to address the problems".

Reform UK's Stephen Atkinson said: "You can't just keep patching up and hoping the roads are going to withstand it. Our priority is potholes and roads."

For the Liberal Democrats, David Howarth said it was not only about how much was spent on repairing pot holes, but how the money is spent. He said: "They should be properly cut out [and] sealed and [you] do them all while you are there."

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