HAMPSHIRE County Council (HCC) has been criticised for not allocating sufficient funds for repairing ‘dangerous’ potholes in Basingstoke and Deane.

Labour Councillor for Brookvale and Kings Furlong ward, Cllr Jack Cousens told The Gazette that he had become aware that the borough had only been allocated five per cent of the Pothole Action Fund allocated to the county council.

This amounted to just over £77,000 from the £1.4 million fund.

In the last year there were 1,453 pothole repairs throughout the borough, something Cllr Cousens believes is not good enough and something residents should not put up with.

He said: “Basingstoke is being let down once again. One of the many complaints residents across the town have are the states of our roads, but we will never get them fixed if Basingstoke continues to receive such little investment.”

He added: “This is just another example of the Conservative-run Hampshire County Council treating Basingstoke with contempt. Residents should not put up with this behaviour.”

Cllr Cousens also claimed that more than two fifths of the potholes filled across the borough took two months or more to be repaired.

Executive member for environment and transport at the county council, Cllr Rob Humby said HCC aims to make roads more resilient to the effects of extreme weather and increasingly heavy traffic.

He said: “Fixing potholes is only part of the story. For a true picture, we need to look at the overall investment in Basingstoke’s roads. This is a long-term strategy which looks at the overall structure of the roads and work is planned accordingly.

“An extra £10million is invested in this across Hampshire each year. It is more effective, long-lasting, and better value than reactive pothole repairs and includes work such as resurfacing whole sections of road and installing new drainage. In Basingstoke, sixty schemes were completed in 2016/2017 and a further 59 are either underway or due for construction this current financial year.

“Basingstoke has benefitted from capital investment over the last few years to improve the roads and tackle congestion. £5.5 million has already been spent on completed schemes on Winchester Road Roundabout and the A33 with a further £17 million being invested in schemes about to start on Crockford and Great Binfields Roundabout and Thornycroft Roundabout.”