Claims that repairing all of Wrexham’s potholes could cost up to £50 million

Repairing all of Wrexham’s potholed roads could cost up to £50 million, a senior council officer has revealed.

The estimated amount was revealed as backbench politicians bemoaned the state of the county borough’s roads, which recently attracted 400 complaints in just one month.

Cllr Mike Morris, who sits on Wrexham Council’s environment scrutiny committee, told colleagues some surfaces in the Isycoed area were already crumbling away.

In response, the authority’s chief officer for environment said he would prefer more permanent repairs to be carried out to potholes.

However, Darren Williams said quick fixes were more affordable with the current funding available to his department for mending roads standing at around £2.7m.

Speaking at a meeting at Wrexham’s Guildhall yesterday, Mr Williams said: “I’d love to be able to be in a position where we don’t do any reactive repairs.

“The fact of the matter is that to protect the council against claims and insurance, we have to fill holes.

“Often the only way to do that is with a very rough and ready approach to filling the holes, which is a bucket full of tar.

“It’s not satisfactory, we don’t like doing it, but that is where we are unfortunately.

“We have tried things like doing a pilot study on just doing hot tar repairs as they do last longer, but they cost a lot more and they take a lot more resource.”

This year, the council has set aside half a million pounds for capital works on its road network, which has been topped up by grants from the Welsh Government.

Mr Williams said despite the issues raised, a recent scanner survey carried out on roads in the area had shown a small improvement.

But Cllr Morris said he felt rural areas, such as his ward of Holt, were being ignored with some roads taking in excess of six months to be repaired.

He said: “I can fully understand that we haven’t got the funds and we have to prioritise the ones with the highest volume of traffic, but the balance has got to tip a little bit back to the C and classified roads.

“As somebody who represents a rural area, there are certain areas where it’s not just a two-inch-deep pothole, you’ve got part of the carriageway subsiding into open water courses. They’re literally failing and falling apart.

“The contractor we generally use tends to take a long time to get things done. You can put an order in for work to be done and six months later you’re still waiting.”

Councillors voted to note the performance figures on road repairs and will also receive a further update on the subject at their next meeting in May.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).