SINCE the council started to invest additional millions of pounds each year into the roads repair budget, the pothole situation has improved.

The programme, which saw streets considered to be the worst resurfaced instead of patched up, meant the same pothole didn't appear again year after year.

There are, however, still many serious craters on our roads and drivers and pedestrians are having to navigate them, and some are ending up with hefty repair bills if they hit one.

The winter does the most damage to our roads, when previously patched potholes open up again with freezing temperatures and rain and ice, wreaking havoc.

The time to get busy on some of the worst roads doing the most damage is now, before the worst of the winter weather is upon us.

We know it will take a sum of cash the council does not have at its disposal to completely solve the problem.

However, the resources we have need to be used wisely and the repair jobs carried out must be of the best possible quality, otherwise it is just a costly way of making the problem even worse.