An £8 million investment into road defect repairs in Staffordshire is seeing positive results. Since May, when the investment into Staffordshire’s roads was announced, more than 11,300 potholes have been repaired across the county.

Compared to last year, the work means there has been a 19% increase in the amount of defects repaired.

Added to this, thousands of gulleys have been cleaned in an effort to tackle drainage issues and ensure the county is prepared for extreme wet weather.

The investment has seen extra crews brought in to focus on fixing Staffordshire’s roads. Up to eight extra crews will be working around the county carrying out pothole repairs and tackling drainage issues over a 12-month period.

The initiative is also seeing groundbreaking technology such as the JCB Pothole Pro, Thermal Road Repairs machine and the Roadmaster, as well as traditional cut and break crews, pulling out all the stops to repair as many defects as possible.

With last winter being one of the wettest and stormiest on record, crews have seen a major increase in reported defects compared to previous years.

Staffordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Strategic Highways Mark Deaville said: “Last winter was wet and stormy, and this summer has also seen more rainfall than we would normally expect, which obviously takes its toll on our roads.

“This is why we opted to invest £8 million into fixing defects and clearing drainage issues. It’s fantastic that we’re already seeing results, and the comments I have had from local residents shows that our efforts are already making a difference in local communities.

“Potholes and poor drainage affect everyone who uses our roads, and we know when these issues are reported, our residents expect us to fix them quickly. We’ll continue to focus our efforts over the next few months, to ensure we are in a really good place when the bad weather once again hits our county.”