Fund to fix our potholes gets an extra £200m in emergency government funding

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Town halls are being given £200million to fix their crumbling roads.

The emergency funding from the Department for Transport is enough to help resurface more than 1,000 miles of highway.

It includes £50million specifically for potholes and flood measures.

The money comes from the £6.6billion the Government is providing over the six years to 2021 to improve local roads.

It will also continue to fund research into new surface materials and pothole repair techniques, including the use of 3D printing.

Martin Tett of the Local Government Association welcomed the extra funding but said more money would be needed.

He added: ‘Potholes are the scourge of all road users and this funding is good news to help councils repair them and pioneer innovative ways to stop them forming in the first place.

‘While innovation will help councils who are fixing a pothole every 17 seconds, funding challenges remain for local authorities to deal with long-term maintenance of their local roads and address a backlog of road repairs which has risen to nearly £10billion to provide better roads that are safer and more resilient to constant use.’