THERE is a huge hole in the budget needed to rid Swindon's roads completely of potholes, the council has confirmed. 

In a post on its Facebook page, Swindon Borough Council has confirmed that it is due to spend £1.086 million in 2023-24 on resurfacing roads on a priority basis. 

But it admits that this isn't even close to addressing the problem with potentially dangerous and defective roads within the borough stating that it would need '100 times more than that to meet local need'. 

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "In an ideal world we’d have the money needed to keep potholes at bay, by resurfacing and upgrading roads as they wear out.

"While the Government announced some additional funding last Friday for local authorities to spend on road maintenance, the Local Government Association estimate it would take councils in England £14 billion, and more than a decade, to clear the current local roads repair backlog."

The council would go on to report that it had completed almost 1,000 pothole repairs in October falling just short at 964, which amounts to 31 repairs a day. 

Of those, 747 were fixed within five working days of being reported and 929 were identified by the council's team of five highway inspectors who regularly check 522 miles of Swindon’s roads and all 646 miles of paths/pavements and 76 miles of cycle paths.

86 repairs were reported by residents, of which 35 were in criteria for a repair

The spokesperson added: "As our budget is limited, we risk assess and prioritise repairs as follows:

"For a pothole to be considered a safety defect, it must be at least 40mm deep in the road surface potholes that pose a very high level of safety risk are completed within 24 hours.

"We aim to complete all other pothole repairs within 10 working days, with the majority completed within 5 working days. Other defects may be programmed for a longer period of repair of up to six weeks.

"For defects less than 40mm deep - a risk assessment is made in line with our Carriageway and Footway Defects Management Plan to determine if the defect is a hazard and if a repair is necessary."

Anyone looking for more information on potholes and answers to common questions surrounding them can visit www.swindon.gov.uk/.../road.../339/report_a_pothole/2