HAMPSHIRE Highways is dispatching extra 'pothole buster' gangs to tackle the damage done to the county's road this winter.

Hampshire County Council says the gangs will be tackling the worst of the damage on the roads inflicted by the cold snap in a matter of days.

However, the council has warned unless extra national funding is received, it could take as a long as a YEAR to get the road network back to the state they were pre-winter.

Councillor Rob Humby, executive member for environment and transport at Hampshire County Council, said: “We’ve got a massive challenge on our hands.The damage inflicted by snow and ice countywide on Hampshire’s roads, is severe.

"With a multi million pound repair bill on our hands, we’ve mobilised extra pothole busters gangs to go out immediately to make interim repairs and, with our budgets already under pressure, have had to re-programme planned maintenance work.

"Unless we receive significant extra national funding, it is likely to take around 12 months to get the road network back to the state it was before the winter.

“Reports of the RAC’s ‘fears’ that the cold snap will result in more potholes are absolutely correct.

"Highways maintenance has been underfunded by the government for years, leaving the local road network in a state of decline, even before the snow.

“In Hampshire, we have invested an extra £10million each year in our planned maintenance Operation Resilience programme which is proving effective in reducing the rate of decline in our roads, but without additional government funding, it is simply not possible to deliver overall improvements in the roads from year to year.

“The stark fact is that local councils are woefully under resourced for this vital part of infrastructure.

"The government provides 52 times more funding for motorways and major trunk roads maintained by Highways England than they do for local roads.

"This is clearly a massive gap which must be addressed urgently, and we fully support the Local Government’s Association calls on the government to reinvest some of the tax raised from motorists back into the roads used by millions of people every day.”

Extra gangs of Pothole Busters are being mobilised across Hampshire by @hantshighways to tackle the worst of the winter damage @robhumby says it's a 'massive challenge' winter.https://t.co/zsNiB5p2PY pic.twitter.com/Q8g9Y3koV2 — Hampshire County Council (@hantsconnect) March 9, 2018

Hampshire residents are urged to report potholes and road defects to the County Council at: hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/roadproblems.