Nearly £1.25 million has been allocated to Swindon to try and improve the state of the roads.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced £420m extra for roads in last month's budget - and £71.9m of that will be spent by councils in the south west.

Swindon Borough Council's Highways department will get £1,241,000 and Wiltshire Council is to receive £7,358.000.

The difference reflects the divergence in the number of miles of highway each council maintains- Swindon council looks after more than 500 miles of highway, while Wiltshire looks after many more.

Councillor Maureen Penny, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for highways and the environment, said: “This is great news for everyone who uses Swindon’s roads. We completely understand the frustration that potholes and other defects can cause and our highways teams work extremely hard all year round to ensure the roads are in good condition.

“Over the course of the last year, we have increased our focus on tackling potholes and our teams managed to repair more than 8,000 of them. Over the recent months we have also made major improvements to Akers Way, Upham Road and Marlborough Road.

“Improving the town’s road network is a major priority for this Council and we will use this additional resource to help us achieve that aim and ensure our highways are properly maintained.”

Coun Jim Robbins is the spokesman for strategic planning on the Labour group at Euclid Street, and he cautiously welcomed the news. He said: “We’re glad that there’s more money being made available – but have to ask whether it’s going to be enough to deal with the state of the roads in Swindon, and why were they allowed to get in such a state in the first place.

“Clearly much more investment is needed in our road network to try and prevent the sort of gridlock we see all too often in the town centre.”

Announcing the funding yesterday the Department of Transport said the total funds allocated for working on the roads in the south west for 2018-2019 is more than £238m

Roads Minister Jesse Norman said: “Potholes are a huge problem for all road users, and too often we see issues occurring at the same place time after time. That is why the government is investing more in improving our roads than at any time before - £15 billion between 2015 and 2020 and a further £28.8 billion to 2025. Plus an immediate extra £420 million for potholes and local road maintenance just this year."

In the 12 months to the end of September, RAC patrols attended 14,220 breakdowns likely caused by potholes, including incidents with damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels.

The firm’s says drivers are more than 2.5 times as likely to suffer a pothole breakdown than they were in 2006.