Not enough is being done to sort out Wiltshire’s pothole ‘nightmare’.

That is the view of Liberal Democrat councillor for Corsham Ruth Hopkinson after Wiltshire Council was handed £3.6m from a special government fund to fix its rutted roads.

Cllr Hopkinson said: “Wiltshire Council Highways have a handbook that gives you the dimensions of a pothole before it is considered to be a pothole.

"Basically, you could grow spuds in them before they get counted as a pothole. To be fair to the council there is work being done to get these fixed, but the backlog is so huge. They are trying to roll a stone up hill, a hill with potholes in it.

“What’s happening to the potholes is we have parish stewards who go to each parish, and they are supposed to do the minor works like filling up minor potholes.

“They diligently do it but it’s only one man with a tub of tarmac they don’t last. In a short time it breaks down around the edges.

“Some streets in Corsham are just appalling to drive down. That’s not unique to Corsham. It’s a nightmare.

“I can point out roads which are just abysmal like Grove Road, Kings Avenue and Priory Street.

“I’ve been lucky to get two roads in Corsham put on the list to be fixed but that’s only two of 20 or 30.”

Cabinet member for transport Caroline Thomas said: “There has been an increase in the number of potholes across the country, not just in Wiltshire.

“The combination of a long dry summer followed by periods of very wet and then freezing conditions, has seen road surfaces deteriorate, in some cases very quickly.

“Unfortunately, the roads in Corsham and throughout Wiltshire have been impacted by this.

“We have recently been awarded an additional £3.6m from the Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) Pothole Fund and are currently looking at which works can be scheduled to undertake the repairs based on priorities.

“The extra funding will support the hard work undertaken this winter to tackle the huge increase in potholes across the county.

“In January, we saw a fourfold increase in pothole reports compared with December and over the 2022/23 financial year spent 50 per cent more on repairs than budgeted, based on past experience.

“We would advise those concerned to please report highway defects and potholes to us using MyWilts – either through our website or by using the smartphone app.”