£1 million programme to prevent potholes and flooding is underway in Northumberland

Northumberland County Council has come under increasing pressure to take action after last year’s exceptionally wet winter caused chaos on roads.

Drainage systems such as ditches and gullies were blocked, with roads suffering from increased flooding as a result.

Cold temperatures meant the surface water would freeze, damaging road surfaces and creating potholes.

In October, the council’s cabinet agreed to use external contractors to carry out an 18-week programme of ditch cleaning, channel sweeping and gully cleansing. The programme is expected to cost more than £1 million.

At a meeting of the council’s communities and place scrutiny committee, service director Paul Jones said: “We have had over £1 million allocated from the severe weather reserve to address some of the issues we saw during the particularly wet weather last year. Each of the four highways areas has been allocated money from the pot.

“We have additional gully tankers, additional large road sweepers and teams are undertaking ditch clearing. That programme is ongoing at the moment.”

Kris Westerby, the council’s highways delivery manager, explained: “We have built a new system to map gully cleaning that will save us around £20,000. That will get us a few more gullies cleaned and pay wages. We know exactly what is going on in everyone’s patch and ward at any one time.”

Cllr Mark Mather, Wooler ward, said: “It has made a real difference in the north of the county. This has been a really clever use of money, it has fixed a lot of problems caused by last winter. Residents are definitely seeing a difference.”