Council will 'win battle' against potholes

The council said £24m had been allocated to road maintenance

A council boss has pledged to fix potholes in his county.

Northumberland County Council Conservative leader Glen Sanderson said he planned to invest £24m in road maintenance.

Potholes were not unique to the area but he was determined to "win the battle", he said.

However, the plan has been criticised by independent councillors who called for long-term solutions.

'Not confined to county'

Speaking at a meeting of the Castle Morpeth local area committee, Mr Sanderson said: "All other county councils, particularly the rural ones, have suffered from the weather which has seen flooding on a scale never seen for years.

"We will get this sorted out - it’s very much a priority that we we have."

However, Independent councillor Mary Murphy questioned whether more long-term solutions were needed, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"Where is the money for research and development of materials and ways and means of actually filling in potholes so that they don’t come out again?" she said.

"We’re doing the same thing again and again," she added.

"The materials that we are using are clearly limited."

'Not tackling problem'

Independent councillor for Rothbury, Steven Bridgett, said he believed the potholes were caused by water damage.

"The drains and ditches and culverts that run alongside the roads haven’t been maintained for many years, many decades even," he told the BBC.

"With us not maintaining them alongside the roads, we’re not actually tackling the problem - we’re just patching it up.”

Mr Bridgett said more money, alongside a new approach to potholes, was needed.

The council also said an additional £4.5m would be invested in maintaining and repairing the county’s rural roads.

Additional reporting by James Robinson, Local Democracy Reporting Service.