Published: Thursday, 4th February, 2010 4:00pm

A hole lot of expense

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POTHOLES that have appeared since the snow will cost councils in the area more than £1/2m to repair.

Surrey County Council has announced it is investing an additional £500,000 in pothole repairs on top of the annual budget.

Highways officers are aiming to fix at least 200 potholes a day, with more than 25 repair teams carrying out the work plus extra contractors if

necessary.

Dr Andrew Povey, leader of Surrey County Council, said: "Now that most of the snow has cleared our top priority is to tackle as a matter of urgency the potholes that have been forming all over the county.

"We will be asking the Department for Transport (DfT) to consider Surrey's financial shortfall following the extreme weather. But it's important that we as a council do our bit and find the money needed to help address the immediate problem of particular concern to local residents."

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead says that the road damage in Ascot caused by the cold snap could cost more than £17,000 to repair and they estimate that 20% of roads have been affected.

The council says that the affected roads are mainly primary and secondary routes because of the amount of traffic they take. A council spokesperson said: "In Ascot on the primary and secondary roads it has cost £2,000 to plug the most dangerous potholes so there are still a number of shallow potholes that will require patching and that will cost about £15,000 and that is about 20% of the minor maintenance budget for the Ascot area."