WILTSHIRE Council spends more money on repairing potholes than anywhere else in the country, research has claimed.

New research by MoneySuperMarket shows the council spends an eye-catching £69million on the works - nearly £18m more than the county in second place.

But Wiltshire Council disputes the figure, arguing the £69 million goes towards wider road repairs, not just pothole problems.

The analysis, based on data sent in response to a Freedom of Information request, reveals that the UK’s top holiday destination, Cornwall, reported over 25,000 more potholes than Cambridgeshire (184k), which came in second place. Derbyshire (172k), Devon (148k) and Oxfordshire (110k) rank third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Wiltshire tops the charts when it comes to expenditure, with the West Country county having spent the most since 2017 - £69 million.

This is nearly £18 million more than Warwickshire which spent £51 million. Cheshire West and Chester (£39 million), Kent (£34 million) and Cheshire East (£24 million) were the next highest spenders.

At the other end of the findings, Kensington and Chelsea recorded the fewest potholes (141) followed by the Isle of Anglesea (290) and Sunderland City Council (320). Stockport reported the lowest pothole spend in the country of £24k, followed by Kensington and Chelsea (£34k) and Rutland (£44k).

Wiltshire Council disputes the report, and says the figure is inaccurate. 

Councillor Bridget Wayman, Cabinet member for Highways, said: “The report is incorrect as most of the £69m figure includes the cost of our road resurfacing programme, which is generally the most cost-effective means of reducing potholes and preventing them forming.

“We are spending more on reactive road maintenance than ever before, and over recent years we have seen the historic backlog being greatly reduced. But our focus remains on increasing planned maintenance that stops potholes appearing in the first place.

“Where there are local road issues we’d encourage people to report them using MyWilts and we will address these as quickly as possible.”