WILTSHIRE Council has “failed dismally” on pothole repairs and is “throwing money away” on temporary fixes, according to a councillor.

Ricky Rogers, who represents Bemerton Heath, said hundreds of residents were getting fed up of reporting the same potholes time and time again through the MyWiltshire app and were becoming “demoralised”.

Cllr Rogers told a meeting of Salisbury area board on Thursday that roads in his ward were mostly concrete, with asphalt dressing, and would never be resurfaced because “it costs a fortune to do the job properly”.

“The main thoroughfare through the biggest estate in Salisbury is horrendous,” he said.

“To do it properly is hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“It will never be done.”

With no resurfacing scheduled for Bemerton Heath this year, Cllr Rogers said each ward in Salisbury should get “a fair share”.

Highway works in 2017/18 in Salisbury include the A338 Downton Road at Britford, the A338 New Bridge Road to Harnham Gyratory, the A30 London Road at Winterslow, Cherry Close, Wain-A-Long Road and Brunel Close on Churchfields.

Gavin Barrett, who runs the Salisbury Pothole Watch group, said that at the current rate of one mile per year, it would take 100 years to do all the city’s roads.

He asked why certain damaged roads were not listed, including the A36 slip road to Central car park, where patching works typically last “three to four days”.

Area board chairman Richard Clewer said each area received roughly the same amount of money, but the A338 Downton Road repair was going to be “extremely expensive”.

The roads to be resurfaced were chosen by highways experts from a longer list, based on the most urgent safety concerns.

Cllr Ian Tomes said: “People have elected the government, they have made those cuts and we are paying the consequences.”