ALMOST half a million pounds has been awarded to Cheshire West and Chester Council to assist its war on potholes.

The Department for Transport's Pothole Action Fund has paid out £445,141 to CWaC to complement its own funding as it tackles a 'significant number' of repairs to potholes.

With the cold, wet weather causing a spike in the hazards forming, the funding has been welcomed.

Cabinet member for environment, Cllr Karen Shore said: “On average we repair more than 5,000 potholes a year. We see an increase in the number appearing on the borough’s roads at this time of year.

“Please report potholes through our Your Streets website - westcheshireyourstreets.co.uk/road-care-scheme

"Serious defects are prioritised first and may at this time of year consist of a temporary type repair as the cold weather affects the type of repair we can carry out to fix potholes.

“Repairs are normally carried out with hot materials in average temperatures. During cold weather this means temporary repairs are made with temporary material keeping the network serviceable and drivers safe.

“The location of each defect is accurately logged and a permanent repair will be included in an appropriate programme of works, whether that be surface treatment pre-patching or a programme of patching works later in the year.”

Potholes are caused when water seeps through cracks in the road caused by passing vehicles. During periods of extreme cold, the water freezes and expands, causing more cracks and so on, weakening the surface and creating gaps under it.

Wear from traffic then deepens the hole, with some developing in as little as 24 hours.

CWaC also carries out regular inspections of roads network.