THE HOLE STORY

NORTH Somerset Council is putting in extra resources to tackle potholes on the district’s roads including many in Weston-super-Mare. 

Following the severe weather earlier this year,  the area's 1,100km of roads, like many in the country, experienced significant damage including an increase in potholes.

Since January, working closely with highways contractor, Balfour ****, the council has put in three times the normal resources specifically into pothole repairs and some 2,000 potholes have been filled.

David Turner, the council's Director of Development and Environment said: "Following the severe weather, residents and road users contacted us to report problems with our roads and we have responded by putting additional resources into this area.

"Our approach has been to prioritise our repairs and make permanent repairs wherever we can.

"Where we haven't been able to make permanent repairs because of the overall state of the road, hot material has been used to fill existing potholes and we are looking at our existing works programme to see where we can fit in more repair work."

One example of the council's flexible approach to prioritising work is the Long Ashton bypass. Because it was not possible to make temporary repairs due to the state of the carriageway this £250,000 scheme to resurface over a mile of the road was brought forward and was completed over an eight-day period earlier this month.

"We will be keeping our higher level of resources fixing the pothole problem over the next couple of months," added Mr Turner.

Residents have been calling the council about potholes with a peak number of reports in February (414) falling to 121 so far in April.

If you see a pothole the council wants to hear about it. You can telephone North Somerset's Council Connect on 01934 888 802 or report a problem through the website www.n-somerset.gov.uk and click on the 'report a problem' tab on the home page.