Government digs deep for pothole repairs

Chancellor George Osborne made an extra £200m available to councils in England and Wales after two successive hard winters left roads damaged.

The one-off funding increase comes as road experts at the AA called on councils to rethink their strategy of filling in potholes instead of relaying the whole road.

Among the big winners in the allocation of extra funds is North Yorkshire County Council, which will receive £6.6m, and Durham County Council, which will receive £2.3m.

Because the highways grant is based on the extent of the road network within each authority, councils such as Darlington and Middlesbrough will receive relatively small amounts.

Gareth Dadd, executive member for highways at North Yorkshire, said: “Many of our roads are at higher altitude where, inevitably, the weather conditions are more severe than in lowland districts.

“We ended the winter with a repair bill of about £36m so, while this additional support from the Government is very welcome, it must be remembered that there is an awful lot of repair work to be done.”

Durham county councillor Mark Wilkes, who represents Framwellgate Moor, said: “This should take pressure off the funding for repairing footpaths, which in many parts of the county are in a really poor state.

“I am discussing with the council where this new money is to be allocated.”

The extra Government grant is in response to the serious damage done to the country’s roads this winter.

Andrew Howard, an AA spokesman, said it is lobbying for changes in the way councils tackle potholes.

“£200m is better than nothing but it will not tackle the structural work that is needed,”

he said.

“We must do more than just patch up potholes because the way it is done now just means that another pothole will appear in the same spot the next time we have a cold snap.

“Councils need to look at resurfacing roads completely as a way to solve the problem.”