A new £7.5 million Pothole Emergency fund to accelerate road repairs across the county has been announced by the new Reform-led administration at Essex County Council.

The council now plans to increase the number of dedicated pothole repair crews from nine to 12 so that each district in Essex can have its own team in a bid to improve response times.

The council says the new programme will be extended to cover what were previously considered to be “non-urgent” potholes. The intention is that these will now be fixed within 90 days and a mix of new and reprioritised funding will also expand the use of specialised machinery such as Roadmenders and Jetpatchers (pictured above).

Councillor Mark Webster, cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said: “We have listened to residents across Essex, and clearly fixing our roads is their biggest concern. That’s why we are making it one of the new administration’s top priorities and declaring a Pothole Emergency.

“This £7.5 million investment means more crews, more machinery and doing the right thing to fix the highway defects across our county,” he added.