'We want to repair potholes permanently'

Pothole repairs in Shropshire are contracted to Multevo

Getting to grips with the huge amount of potholes in the county is one of Shropshire Council's key priorities.

New council leader Heather Kidd made improving the state of Shropshire's roads one of her top priorities within the first 100 days in power.

There are 3,200 miles of roads in Shropshire, ranging from main A and B to smaller C and unclassified roads.

One of the ways the authority aims to "get things moving" quicker is by using Multihog road planer machines for more complex jobs.

The machines can plane off the road surface much quicker than having to saw-cut and break out the defective surface by hand.

"We've got two Multihog teams who will do 130 square metres of repair in a day," said Josh Sweeney, director of marketing at Multevo, which is contracted by Shropshire Council to carry out highways maintenance.

The machines used for the repairs are called Multihogs

"They are used on roads that are deteriorating and need that extra level of resource - we're responsible for permanently repairing any defect," he said.

"If we're going to make a visit to a location, we want to make sure that every defect is picked up and repaired permanently so we're not going back at a later date."

Mr Sweeney said last week, the team had reduced the number of reported defects by 330.

"We look after everything from surveying the road and identifying the right treatment through to programming the works, raising permits, and making residents aware that work will be happening," he said.

"Some of the machines are multi-purpose so can be used in additional activities.

"It's becoming more of a regular scenario where we've used the same machines to help with floods – pump water away in the night, then road repairs in the day."

Forthcoming Multihog works

• Pentregear Issa to Croesan Bach - 16 to 17 July

• Llansaintfraid Road - 18 July

• B4397, Burlton to Loppington - 21 to 30 July

• Newport Road, Albrighton - 24 July

• Ash Road, Whitchurch - 24 to 30 July

All work will be carried out between 09:30 to 16:00 BST on weekdays.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.