Shropshire Council’s three Multihog road planer machines will be tackling more potholes and other defects on roads across Shropshire next month.

The Multevo Multihog planes off the road surface to enable a squared-off hole to be filled by a following gang. It’s quicker than having to saw-cut and break-out the defective road by hand – tackling potholes and other defects more quickly and effectively, said the council.

Using the Multihog the council can reduce the likelihood of potholes forming in the short-to-medium term and cut down on the need for road closures.

Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for highways, said: “The Multihogs are a hugely important part of our work to tackle potholes and improve the county’s roads.

“It’s a really important part of our strategy to deliver meaningful repairs to roads across Shropshire, and make them safer for all road users.”

Since April 2021, more than 37,000 potholes have been repaired across the Shropshire Council area.

As well as the Multihogs, other methods used to tackle potholes include the two Roadmasters that treat potholes on rural roads, ‘find and fix’ repairs, and more traditional repairs by gangs.

Meanwhile, the council’s annual resurfacing and surface dressing programmes help to improve the county’s roads and prevent potholes forming in the first place.

Since the Multihog was officially adopted in late March 2021, the volume of the road network repaired has risen to around 150m² per gang each day, with three teams deployed across the county. This means an average of 9,000m² of road can be treated each month, according to the council.