Northamptonshire's roads 'are not acceptable' says transport chief as county council starts road repairs

The county's roads have been ravaged by one of the worst winters on record.

The County Council say they will have to make taxpayers money stretch further this year to repair Northamptonshire's roads after one of the most severe winters on record.

After three major snow events and more than 100 gritting runs, the county council says they have begun the spring phase of its highways repair programme.

It includes road patching to fill in heavily potholed areas before "micro asphalt and surface dressing" as preventative maintenance for next year.

The council says it would cost the cash-strapped local authority an investment of £100million to bring the network up to standard.

Councillor Ian Morris, county council cabinet member for transport, highways and environment, said:“We recognise that our roads are not acceptable but we don’t have the funds locally to make a significant impact on this.

“A combination of winter weather and increased heavy usage causes damage to roads and footways not just here but throughout Britain.

“With less and less money available to us for repairs we need to make a little go a long way and use innovation to make the public pound stretch further.

“However we are very hopeful that our significant efforts to use innovation to find efficiencies will be recognised.”

It comes after the council accepted the "dangerous roads" notice from by campaigner Mark Morrell, AKA Mr Pothole.

He served the authority two section 56 notices citing the council had failed to maintain two roads: Halse Road in Greatworth and the Welsh Lane route (B4525) from Crowfield to the A43 roundabout.