How do you solve a problem like potholes?

Will there ever be enough money to fix all of Nottinghamshire's roads?

"Damage to tyres, bent wheels, excessive suspension wear, we've noticed an increase in it all."

Nottinghamshire mechanic Tom O'Brien says he has seen a steady rise in cars damaged by potholes over the past decade.

"We've had incidents where there's a pothole in the local area and you get two or three cars in that day and they all mention that particular pothole," he said.

He tells the BBC it is difficult to drive in a straight line on local roads "because you just find yourself weaving in and out of the potholes".

For local politicians with an election on the horizon, it is the one topic they know they can't swerve.

While the vast majority of Nottinghamshire County Council's budget is actually spent on social care, ask any politician or party activist to name the number one topic that comes up on the doorstep - and the state of the roads is often the answer.

Mechanic Tom O'Brien says damage caused by potholes can cost hundreds of pounds to fix

With a very finely balanced council chamber, where the Conservatives only need to lose one seat to lose overall control, it was always going to be a big election issue.

So with less than two weeks until polling day, we asked local political leaders about their pothole pledges.

Current council leader Conservative Sam Smith has promised to invest £200m in road repairs, but also said he would put an end to temporary fixes "that come out every time it rains".

"We will scrap that and do proper patch resurfacing works right across the county," he said.

He added they would resurface pavements and clear drains at the same time as road resurfacing in what he called "a whole street approach".

Labour group leader Kate Foale, meanwhile, said pavements needed just as much attention as the roads themselves.

She said extra funding had already been provided by central government but she would lobby for more.

"We need to continue working with the [East Midlands] mayor, continue working with the Labour government and say to them - our roads and pavements are in a bad state, we need more funding from you and we need to prioritise it," she said.

Jason Zadrozny, leader of the Ashfield Independents, said sorting out the county's roads was "dead easy".

He said the council should enter into partnerships with "big companies like Tarmac" in order to fully resurface more roads.

"It's shown it can work, we would bring that to Nottinghamshire and put some pride back into our county," he said.

Mr O'Brien and his team are seeing more and more damage caused by potholes

Reform UK's John Doddy said potholes were "no laughing matter", and the council's approach to repairs had not been good enough.

"There's no point in going to an individual pothole if there's 10 other potholes," he said.

"There's no point in doing 10 potholes if you need to do the whole road. Sometimes you've got to prioritise resurfacing roads."

Liberal Democrat candidate David Watts says there needs to be a programme to tackle "the very worst roads".

"It needs money investing in it. If that means it takes slightly longer to do because we have to raise the money, so be it," he said.

"We want to able to say to people - here is our programme to repair the roads in your area over this time period so people know that it will happen."

The Green Party's Ben Gray said there needs to be a "fresh approach," and he would look into the "oversight" of Via East Midlands - the council-owned company that carries out road repairs.

"We need to improve the quality of repairs that are done and improve the general quality of roads across the East Midlands," he said.

'Spend more'

Reading these quotes from different parties, it is striking how similar much of the messaging is.

There appears to be near-unanimity that at least two things are required - more money and a focus on resurfacing rather than repairs.

In the long-term, it is hoped part of the solution may lie with a different organisation entirely, with the East Midlands Combined County Authority having taken on responsibility for highways funding in the region, rather than cash coming directly from the Department for Transport.

For now at least, those who want to run the county council know they will have to answer to the disgruntled drivers they meet on the doorstep, for whom the arguments over who is to blame are superfluous.

As Mr O'Brien told us: "They've got to spend more on the roads. They're quick enough to charge us high taxes."

Polling day for the Nottinghamshire County Council election is 1 May.

More information and a full list of candidates is available on the council website.