Councils hit the pothole jackpot

Councils today discovered how much cash they would have to repair potholes as the Government doubled the amount of extra funding.

Across the country £200 million of funding has been offered to local authorities compared to the £100m initally announced last month.

Black Country councils are getting around £500,000 each while Staffordshire will get £4.2m.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has written to all English local highway authorities to inform them of their share.

Last month the Department for Transport announced it was making available £100m as an exceptional payment to help with much-needed road repairs following another winter of severe weather.

This extra funding was made possible due tosavings the department made earlier in the financial year.

Mr Hammond said: "Potholes are a menace to all road users and I want councils to make fixing them a priority.

"That is why, when more funding became available, I agreed with the Chancellor that we would double the amount of money we are providing for repairs to be carried out.

"This represents a significant investment in road maintenance at a time of severe fiscal restraint."

Councillor Peter Bilson, Wolverhampton's transport chief, said: "Roads which have had heavy use are ones that we would want to prioritise.

"Our inspectors will need to make assessments and decide which ones need to be done first."

Work was recently done to fill in potholes in Willenhall Road.