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The council’s transport boss has said they are struggling to “keep Oxfordshire open for business” after it was revealed more than £160m is needed to bring the county’s roads up to scratch. Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith said: “We have been trying to keep the most heavily trafficked roads in a good state and that has meant prioritising, but we can’t do that forever.

“Some of the county’s roads have deteriorated to a state where the edges have broken away.” The authority has said it would need a one-off amount of about £167m to fix all the potholes and other defects as well as a yearly upkeep budget of £23m. But it can only afford to this year spend £17.178m on the work.

It comes as politicians have welcomed a central Government cash injection of £4m but said it is not enough. Cllr Nimmo Smith stressed that a lack of funds for road repairs was a national problem, but called on central Government to take the problem more seriously. When asked if people should expect things to get worse, he said it would depend on the kind of winters we have.

He added: “If this country continues to be reliant on its road network and getting people into business it is going to have to do something about the underlying situation and condition of the roads. “But we are pushing for more money from central Government and what this council has done is, despite budget pressures, not taken any more money out of highways.”

In the coming weeks, the Department for Transport is set to inform councils across the county how they can bid for more money from a central Government “pothole relief” fund, outlined in Chancellor George Osborne’s most recent budget.

But there will only be £200m available for the whole country – just over the amount estimated to fix Oxfordshire’s roads alone for a year. Chairman of Oxford cyclist group Cyclox Simon Hunt said potholes were also dangerous for cyclists. He said: “Things are clearly getting worse on a general level and that is mainly down to the extreme weather we have had. “Although there is some patching going on there are lots of roads where it is a dangerous hazard for cyclists.

“The council could be doing a better job, but people need to also be more proactive in reporting potholes and road damage.” Abingdon taxi driver Colin Dobson, from Oxford, said he had become familiar with many of the potholes. He said: “They are very annoying, but now I tend to avoid them because I know where they all are.”

Bladon resident Mary Sitch had £267 worth of damage caused to the wheel of her car by a pothole near her home on Heath Lane, on April 13 last year. She has been fighting to get compensation for the repairs since then, but said she was refused by the county council on the basis that it did not know about the pothole. Mrs Sitch, who is 86, said: “They won’t accept responsibility because they say there was not a reasonable time to take action.”

Source-On Request