DUDLEY Council has announced a programme of works to help reduce the number of potholes across the borough following an injection of Government cash.

More than £168m has been set aside across the country for pothole repairs and the council has now received more than £567,000 of the fund following its successful bid.

Dudley's share - which is the largest allocation in the West Midlands - will be used to repair existing potholes around the borough and for preventative maintenance to stop potholes forming.

The preventative work will take place on a number of residential roads and will extend the council’s existing micro-surfacing programme.

While new machinery will be used to repair existing potholes in a more efficient and cost effective fashion.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Dudley Council's cabinet member for transportation, said: “Dudley has embarked upon a major programme of pothole repairs using a new approach called ‘planer potholes’ where damaged surfaces are removed with a small planer attachment that only removes the minimum material required for repair.

“This approach reduces material costs as we are not having to replace a deeper area as is the case with a conventional repair using hand tools."

Dudley South MP Chris Kelly welcomed the cash to tackle the pothole problem.

He said: "£567,127 of new funding will go a long way to dealing with the menace of potholes and ridding them from our roads."