'Mr Pothole' wants action on road surface damage

Dave Newcombe records potholes around Tavistock to put more pressure on the council to fix them

A man is waging war on potholes which he says are blighting a Devon town.

Dave Newcombe's efforts to prompt the council into action have earned him the nickname of Tavistock's Mr Pothole.

Mr Newcombe gathers information on the locations of damage to the road surface and contacts Devon County Council.

Devon County Council said its rural road network was more vulnerable to potholes and the wet winter weather had played a part.

Pothole repair backlog

The condition of roads in Devon was raised by people getting in touch with the BBC via Your Voice, Your Vote to tell us about the most important issues for them during this election.

Mr Newcombe said: "There are numerous potholes all over the town. They do not seem to be dealt with in a reasonable fashion.

"They do very poor repairs which do not last, and it's very frustrating for everyone in the town."

Mr Newcombe set up a Facebook page for people to share information on potholes in Tavistock which has more than 700 members.

He said it was difficult to get Devon County Council to take action due to the way it decided which road defects could be repaired.

The council's website said it prioritised potholes that were 30cm (12in) wide with a 4cm (1.5in) "vertical edge" as it "cannot afford to fix all of the problems that are reported to us".

Mr Newcombe said the council's definition was strict enough to amount to a "golden get out of jail card".

Devon County Council previously said it had a £200m pothole repair backlog.

Damage to the road surface can be seen on roads around Tavistock

A spokesman for Devon County Council said its road network was largely rural with many "structurally poor" minor roads meaning "a high proportion of the network is more vulnerable and susceptible to the formation of potholes".

The council said: "As we’ve seen over the last 18 months, the road network deteriorates rapidly during periods of extended wet weather or freezing temperatures."

Political parties have promised to tackle potholes in the run-up to the general election.

The Conservatives have promised to take £8.3bn reallocated from the cancellation of the second phase of HS2 and put that money into road repairs over the next 10 years.

Labour has pledged to fund councils to repair up to a million potholes a year in England through "multi-year funding settlements to local leaders".

The Liberal Democrats say they will invest £300m over the course of the next parliament, which they claim will fix 1.2-million potholes a year.

The Greens said they would oppose all new road building plans and reallocate funding earmarked for road building to improve public transport, cycleways and footpaths.

Reform wants to improve rail and road links but has not addressed potholes specifically.

You can see a full list of candidates for all of Devon's constituencies here.