Officers are bound by certain rules in the controlled period of an election (purdah) but political parties are not. Otherwise their campaigns would be hampered.
Also to be fair (typical Lib Dem!), Lib Dems started the Highways Improvement 10-year £100m plan, the Con government recently announced a special fund to repair potholes for local authorities and the current Lab admin are actually doing something about it.
Re the surface at the junction of Cross Lane / Stockport Road, it is uneven, but not deep so does not qualify as a pothole. The officer I spoke to said a temp repair would come unstuck and traffic management would cause more chaos after all the recent roadworks, scheduled and unscheduled. But he said it is to be scheduled "asap". (BTW a resident arranged to meet with a Cadent manager and 2 cllrs re gas works on Brabyns and how to do it better next time - he's taken our points away)