TERRIBLE CITY ROADS NOT DRIVEABLE - DEPUTY LEADER

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has set itself a target of fixing 6,000 road defects in six months following thousands of complaints about the state of local highways.

The roads are "terrible", said deputy council leader Amjad Wazir and "some of the potholes are huge, and the roads not driveable".

The repair target was achievable and main routes would be prioritised, as at the moment "drivers don't feel comfortable driving on the roads", the Labour councillor said.

According to the authority, there have been more than 6,000 complaints about the roads in 12 months, with the repairs set to be carried out during the better weather.

"I want our roads to be perfect to drive on," said Mr Wazir, who added a lack of funding across more than a decade had led to a decline in the state of the local highways.

"It affects everybody everyday, and [the repair scheme] needs to be done," he said, stating that potholes were a problem nationwide.

In 2023, the Prime Minister announced plans to provide £8.3bn of extra funding over 11 years for road improvements in England.

James Harper, highways teams manager at the city council, said his team would work "day and night" to carry out repairs.

Admitting he was "probably a bit biased", he described the city's road as being in "pretty good condition" but conceded there was work to be done coming out of winter.

Decisions on repairs were made using a triage system, and no part of Stoke-on-Trent would be prioritised over another, said Mr Harper, whose team, he added, would use a machine designed to fix potholes swiftly.

Work on main routes would be carried out at night to try to avoid traffic jams, he said.

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TERRIBLE CITY ROADS NOT DRIVEABLE - DEPUTY LEADER

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