Last updated 00:00, Thursday, 24 January 2008

AN EXTRA £500,000 is needed to urgently repair an unprecedented number of road defects left by severe winter weather.

Cumbria County Council has already proposed more than £1m extra in the next budget for highways maintenance to deal with increased potholes and flood damage.

But its full council will hear at a meeting in Kendal today that, following the alternating wet and freezing conditions last month, half as much again is needed.

Councillors will discuss whether to move the money from the council’s general reserves so extra resources can be put to work from Monday.

In a 12-day period from January 10, a special highways hotline received more than 5,000 calls, including 2,000 complaints about potholes.

In one exceptionally busy day – Monday January 21 – about 1,400 calls were received.

Hotline managers said the month had seen the busiest period for road repairs since the floods three years ago.

Almost 1,000 pothole complaints came in the period between January 10 and 17 – three times the number for the same period last year.

A county council spokesman said: “The wet conditions further complicate matters because it is virtually impossible to repair a pothole while the road surface is running with water.

“This has led to a backlog of potholes that need fixing.

“If approved, the £500,000 will pay for extra repair teams geared up to help blitz the problem from January 28.

“If the plan goes ahead they will join the extra resources that have already been deployed to tackle the issues with various highways response teams diverted to deal with flooding and carriageway repairs.”

Cumbria Highways, the partnership between the county council, Amey Infrastructure Services and Capita Symonds, say they have been working flat out to tackle the recent problems.

Some repairs will be of a temporary nature to help eliminate the backlog and remove danger. Some machine-based repairs will be done where the extent of the damage is beyond a pothole repair.

To report a highways problem call 0845 6096609.