109 fallen trees, 83 flooding incidents and 258 separate emergencies has seen "extra pressure" put on Buckinghamshire Council's highways teams.

Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport, highlighted the resilience of the crews in managing the increased weather-related workload.

He said: "Winter always places additional challenges on our highways crews, with more extreme weather conditions adding to the already busy schedule of works.

"The weather in the past couple of weeks has really called for all hands to be ready as we’ve been faced with a surge in emergency call-outs and dealt with everything from trees blocking roads to stranded vehicles, flooding and icy stretches of road.

"Authoritative figures show the extent of the challenges faced.

"During the first week of January, the teams responded to 258 separate emergencies.

"On this list were 109 fallen trees and branches and 83 incidences of flooding.

"The gritting teams in the county have already completed 25 gritting cycles this year.

"Curent stats show the highways teams have served over 540 emergency call-outs already this year, noticeably higher than the number during the same period last year.

"Mr Broadbent praised the commitment shown by the crews.

"He said: "I’m proud of the efforts all our teams have made, with crews working all hours of day and night to keep everyone safe.

"Overnight, when most people are fast asleep or in the daytime when the weather conditions have been at their most treacherous, our crews have braved the elements and ventured out to deal with the variety of incidents that have been reported."

The work needed to address the emergencies has meant crews have been moved away from regular maintenance duties such as attending to road defects around the county. This has in turn yielded new challenges.

Mr Broadbent explained: "The same crews who would normally be out and about fixing potholes and other defects have been busy dealing with the emergencies that have sprung up so that we prioritise the immediate problem.

"Winter weather conditions do damage our road surfaces and so new road defects are the norm at this time of year and are appearing across the county.

"Instead of the customary permanent fixes, the teams have had to make safe the worst-affected areas with temporary repairs, due to the nature of the winter.

"We’re not able to make permanent repairs in the winter but our crews will assess all defects reported and make safe the worst affected with temporary repairs.

"Once conditions improve as we go into spring and summer these defects will be added to our comprehensive schedules for a permanent fix", Mr Broadbent added.