Potholes to be tackled in 'largest ever' project

Suffolk County Council's Paul West (right) said the resurfacing works were one of the "top priorities"

The "largest ever resurfacing project" in Suffolk has begun, with hundreds of roads set to be rid of potholes, the county council said.

One hundred and two roads will be surface dressed, while a further 319 sites will benefit from full machine resurfacing during the year.

Paul West, Conservative cabinet member of Ipswich, operational highways and flooding, said the programme was "a move in the right direction".

Andrew Stringer, leader of the Green, Liberal Democrats and Independents Group at the council, said he feared the programme would not be enough.

The council said it had repaired more than 9,000 potholes and resurfaced 41 roads in the past six months.

Funding for the new programme has come from an extra £10m of council investment, as well as some money from the Department for Transport.

Roads identified for work have been picked by the highways technical team and include the A1152 near Bromeswell, Valley Road and Sidegate Lane West in Ipswich and Borrow Road, Gordon Road and Leisure Way in Lowestoft.

Mr West said the council was also "trying to minimise future potholes" and "looking at carrying out work that saves money in the long run".

He added there would be "a little disruption" on the roads over the next few months.

"Hopefully the weather will be kind to us so we can do it in the minimum time possible," he said.

'Worn out network'

Mr Stringer said: "Any programme of delivering repairs to our frankly worn out network is incredibly welcomed.

"It won't, however, mask what we're up against, which is roads that are beginning to fail significantly due to massive under investment in the last decade."

He added there was some sympathy due to the "incredibly tight" budgets the council faced, but he felt the model of "running backwards and forwards fixing odd potholes as they appear" was not the answer.

"They should treat [the roads] as an invest-to-save model, so that you do a stretch of road properly so that it lasts longer."