Leeds City Council is rolling out an emergency action plan to repair the damage caused by the cold weather on the city’s road network.

Around £500,000 has been earmarked to carry out extra safety inspections and repairs to potentially dangerous pot holes.

The council is one of the country’s highest spending councils for road repairs, spending an extra £91.3m above normal funding levels, over nine years.

Before the cold snap arrived, many roads had been resurfaced and these have held up well in the bad weather. However, the recent cold weather has set back progress causing some serious damage to the city’s 2,000 mile road network.

Potholes are one of the main problems causing major problems to motorists. They are caused when water gets into the tarmac which then freezes and expands, pushing the tarmac up from underneath, causing potholes to develop.

Council leader, Councillor Andrew Carter, who is responsible for the city’s highways said:
"The bad weather has left us with a massive problem in terms of damage to road surfaces. We have to deal with the most dangerous potholes as a matter of urgency, and its important that we respond speedily to reports from the general public.

“It is a very serious problem, and one which we have to deal with ourselves, as we will not and do not get any extra funding from the Government for these sorts of issues.

"We are not through the winter yet, and will probably have a lot more cold weather, which will make the situation worse. Clearly we cannot allow the situation to deteriorate.

"Our highways staff, supplemented by other council employees, are working extremely hard to carry out the necessary repairs as a matter of urgency. We will continue to try to find additional funding from within our budgets, to keep our roads and footpaths properly maintained."