Pothole surge sparks Westminster debate

A Shropshire MP is set to raise concerns about potholes in Parliament, as the main local council says it is facing a sharp rise in damage to roads.

Stuart Anderson, the Conservative MP for South Shropshire, has secured a debate on potholes in Westminster.

He is asking residents to send his office examples of damaged roads to help him press the government for action.

Anderson said he wanted to gather as much local evidence as possible to strengthen the case for improvements.

The information will be collated by his team and used during the debate, which will be broadcast live from 16:30 GMT on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Shropshire Council said the county had seen a sharp increase in potholes in recent months.

The authority reported 2,113 new potholes in January, compared with 1,216 during the same month last year - a rise of 77%.

In a letter to residents, cabinet member for highways David Vasmer said: "Winter is the time of year when potholes most commonly appear and this year the situation is worse as a result of recent extreme periods of wet, cold and further wet conditions - a situation faced by other councils across the country.

"Water gets into cracks in the road then freezes and expands, and that's why we've all seen a big increase in the number and severity of potholes."

He added that Shropshire faced particular challenges because it had one of the largest road networks in England.

Vasmer said the council could not repair every pothole immediately and sometimes had to carry out temporary fixes until conditions allowed for permanent repairs.

Since May last year, the authority said it had repaired more than 25,000 potholes - an average of about 595 per week - created additional repair teams and increased night-time working to tackle the backlog.

It added it was also investing in preventative work, including resurfacing and surface dressing programmes aimed at reducing the likelihood of potholes forming.

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