PROBLEMATIC potholes in residential roads could soon be a thing of the past.

As previously reported in The Gazette, Hampshire County Council took advantage of the warmer summer months to treat road defects, some of which can damage residents’ cars, resulting in repairs having to be made.

However, these repairs were done on major roads, with many residential roads throughout Basingstoke and Deane still being left with big road defects.

Now, one county councillor is pressing for the technology that was used to fix the “bigger roads” to be used on smaller residential roads.

One way the authority has looked to target them is with a Dragon Patcher. The flamethrower-wielding machines can repair up to 150 holes per day and were deployed to find and fix road damage as part of a new highways strategy.

Basingstoke Central division councillor, Cllr Michael Westbrook says he wants to see “new additions” to the Dragon Patcher family to battle smaller roads.

Cllr Westbrook said: “Residents may have heard of the Dragon Patcher, operated by just one person on a find and fix basis which can repair a defect five times faster than traditional methods and is effective in all weathers and the road is ready for traffic immediately afterwards.

"This machine does however have limitations as it is only suitable for major roads."

Cllr Westbrook added: "Back in February I raised this issue with the cabinet member responsible and stated that we needed to find a solution for our smaller roads within our town and it now seems that has paid off as we are soon to see two new smaller additions to the Dragon Patcher family.

"These 2.5m wide offspring should be able to undertake work on the majority of our urban road network and also create some traffic management efficiencies so preventing the associated disruption for our residents and businesses when carrying out a repair.

"I will be pressing to see this new technology deployed here on our Basingstoke urban roads in the near future."

Owned by Skanska, Hampshire County Council’s roads contractor, the Dragon Patcher truck expels flames to de-ice and dry out the road surface, before cleaning it with compressed air.

Councillor Rob Humby, executive member transport at the county council, said: “Making sure Hampshire’s extensive road network is fit for purpose is one of our top priorities, which is why we’ve committed funding for two Dragon Patchers which will be out across the county within the next few months.”