Extra cash being poured into Wiltshire's pothole problem
The Council says it's spending every penny possible
An extra £10 million has been added to Wiltshire Council's budget to deal with potholes and Leader Richard Clewer says he's putting as much money as he can into fixing them.
The council receives £20.7m of funding from the Government but it's adding a further £10m over the next two years to take preventative action on the county's roads.
Teams from the council have been fixing the most serious potholes in recent weeks, while other teams of parish stewards have been scouting their local areas for potholes that can be cold filled, although these are likely to be temporary solutions.
Cllr Clewer admits the council's struggled in the early part of 2024 to keep up with pothole fixes, but he's made extra funds available to catch up.
"At this time of year, it's really hard to stay on top of the number of potholes," he said, adding: "the wet weather is making it really, really difficult. So in our budget we've put an extra half million pounds in that will be going to provide more teams like this to try and get those permanent repairs done as soon as possible."
He's also made the extra £10 million available to deal with roads where cracks are beginning to appear.
By resurfacing roads early, it's hoped that they'll get an extra 10-15 years of life and avoid more expensive interventions in the future.
Cllr Clewer said: "5 million of that will be spent this year, 5 million next year. We know that a huge amount of effort is needed. We are putting all the money we can into it."