A MACHINE has been busy fixing up to '700 potholes a week' in Buckinghamshire, the council said.

Buckinghamshire Council have repaired Lower Road in Haddenham and Portway Road in Stone, where nine areas of defective road surface were repaired.

The Pothole Pro will continue to travel around the county visiting sites that have been identified for repairs as part of a 28-day patching plan, including further works on Berryfields Road where 41 defects are due to be fixed over coming weeks.  

The Pothole Pro is a specialist three-in-one vehicle that speeds up the process of repairing potholes and large sections of the road surface.

The machine starts by cutting into the road surface where a pothole has appeared. It planes out the defective area then crops the perimeter of the hole neatly, minimising the amount of material that needs to be removed and allowing a watertight seal.

It then brushes away and collects the debris afterwards. All that is then needed following this is for highways teams to seal, lay and compact the asphalt into the prepared area to complete the repair.

Buckinghamshire Council Leader, Martin Tett and Cabinet Member for Transport, Steven Broadbent, went out to view the Pothole Pro in action in Crispin Street and Berryfields Road last week to see how the repairs are being carried out.

Council Leader, Martin Tett, said: “It has been great to see our Buckinghamshire Highways teams in action, working hard to make much-needed repairs across the county. We know there is still a lot of work to be done but we are making progress.

"On average our teams are filling up to 700 potholes every week and we will keep up this momentum until the programme is complete.”

Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport added: “Our new Buckinghamshire Highways partnership is already achieving significant results in terms of making good the damage that has been caused to so many of our roads over the winter.

This is alongside our ongoing maintenance programmes and planned improvement works. Keep your eyes peeled for our crews out and about over coming months as we make our way around the county.”