It's time to get to the bottom of this pothole crisis

Drivers are now demanding more needs to be done to improve not only the roads around Portsmouth, but roads the length and breadth of the country.

It has been revealed by Cycling UK that more than £1.2m of taxpayers’ money has been handed out in compensation to motorists across the county.

Although Portsmouth City Council has yet to release its figures, Hampshire County Council paid out over £890,000 in compensation and legal costs to motorists – £113,000 to cyclists alone.

It seems that every winter gaping holes appear on our roads – whether it is the county’s motorways, main roads, side streets or country lanes.

And every year the various highways authorities vow to fill them in and keep the county moving smoothly.

Drivers pinpointed problem areas such as Purbrook Hill, Milton and the A27.

But nowhere has escaped the problem.

Carl Cox from Havant summed up the frustration of drivers when he said: ‘There are so many of them. It all needs to be ripped up and resurfaced. Repairing them is no good, it just gets knocked out again.’

So what can be done? Councils haven’t got the cash, let alone the time and manpower, to fill in every pothole every year.

Does the answer lie in the material used in our road surfaces? Are highways authorities now using a lower standard of covering?

Unless something is done soon we will all be sitting here this time next year bemoaning the potholes that have appeared over the 2018 winter months.