Northumberland County Council has approved a three-month ‘invest to save’ trial of a different approach to pothole repairs.
The project in the north and west of the county would see affected areas of road cut out and patched, rather than the council's more commonly used method of filling and repairing the pothole itself.
Northumberland said that the cut and patch technique would be more expensive and time-consuming but also more hard-wearing and so less likely to re-occur.
The cabinet has agreed to set aside £492,600 from the council’s severe weather reserve to fund the pilot scheme, which will get underway in late June.
The planned trial is the latest in a series of investments the council has made to tackle issues on the county’s 3,500 miles of roads.
These include four new gully tankers and a JCB PotholePro, a multi-functional mobile repair machine that is being used in the south east of the county.
It has also announced a £17.225m minor roads maintenance programme.
The council has also launched a new public reporting system, FixMyStreets Pro - to make it easier for the public to pinpoint and report repairs and get feedback on what action is being taken.
Cllr John Riddle, cabinet member for Improving our roads and highways, said: 'This new approach does require a step change in operations due to the nature and scope of the additional works involved, as the repair technique used takes longer to complete and involves traffic management, such as temporary traffic lights, to allow teams to work safely.
'The trial would be closely monitored to help further understand the effects and impacts of carrying out more pothole repairs using this patch repair technique.'
The cut and patch repair technique would be limited to a proportion of road defects during the trial, with other defects continuing to be repaired using the fill and repair method.
The outcome of the trial will be evaluated as part of the council’s budget-setting process for 2024/25.
