'Astronomical' increase in potholes, council says

Potholes, pictured here in Jesmond, Newcastle, can cause damage to cars

An "astronomical" increase in potholes across a city will cost millions of pounds to fix, council bosses have said.

A report from Newcastle City Council confirmed the cost of repairing the damage was £185m.

Cabinet member Paul Frew said: “The longer this goes on, the more money we will need from the government."

The Department for Transport (DfT) has been approached for comment.

In November, the DfT promised more than £8bn for road improvements.

But Newcastle’s share would not be enough to carry out its existing list of required road renewals, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The Labour-led council was offered a "minimum” funding uplift of almost £29m up to 2034 – enough to cover about 16% of the city’s pothole backlog.

The council said the funding formula calculated payments by how long roads are, not how heavily they are used and does not include pavements.

Mr Frew added: “We get a disproportionately poor deal compared to, say, Northumberland, which has a lot of miles and not much pavement.

"National government needs to think about how that is funded."