ESSEX County Council has received more than £13 million from the Government to repair thousands of potholes across the county.

County Hall has received £13,638,000 from the latest round of the Department for Transport’s £500 million Potholes Fund.

The cash will be used by authorities up and down the country for highways maintenance - to repair potholes and other road defects.

The Department for Transport says an average pothole costs £50 to fill in, meaning 272,760 could be repaired across Essex using the cash.

Kevin Bentley, councillor responsible for infrastructure, said: “We welcome this money provided specifically to help councils work to catch up to some extent with the inevitable backlog of pothole repairs after wet and freezing winter weather.

“We will use a combination of our in-house crews and quickly mobilised support from supply chain partner firms to maximise the effectiveness of all the funding available.

“We fixed 11,615 potholes across Essex in 2020 and have a major challenge now to repair those caused by the coldest winter in ten years.

“Extra crews are now working to fix more potholes each week logged by Essex county councillors, in addition to the usual safety-priority repairs we carry out.”

The cash is the second of five equal instalments from the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the 2020 budget.

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Across the UK the Government hopes the funding will see ten million potholes filled in total.

Transport Minister Baroness Vere said: “We know potholes are more than just a nuisance – they can be dangerous to drivers and cyclists alike, and cause damage to thousands of vehicles every year.

“The funding allocated today will help councils ensure roads in their area are kept up to standard, and the potholes which blight road users can be dealt with promptly.”

Essex is receiving one of the highest cash awards of local authorities across the UK.

You can keep up to date with the potholes which are being filled in each part of Essex at bit.ly/2S0iGCw.