ST HELENS Council will receive a quarter of a million pounds from centre Government to help repair the borough’s potholes.

The money comes from a £100 million pothole fund to help repair roads damaged by the recent bout of severe weather.

This is on top of the £75 million in government funding given to councils from the Pothole Action Fund this year, as well as the additional £46 million boost for highways authorities announced just before Christmas.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family.

“We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads.

“We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

The government is also investing more than £900,000 to help councils more efficiently manage and plan maintenance works.

It claims this will help prevent further potholes and other road defects occurring over time.

The Department for Transport is also providing £30,000 to the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to work on technological and innovative improvements to future-proof the local road network.

This fund is on top of £6 billion the government is providing local authorities between 2015 and 2021 to maintain and improve their roads.