A PLAN to fill potholes with plastic has been put on hold.

The scheme repairing the holes on Wiltshire’s roads has been paused because there are concerns microplastics could end up in the county’s chalk rivers.

Last year councillor Brian Mathew passed a motion calling on the county council to look into recycling plastic by using it to fill potholes and cracks in the roads.

Wiltshire Council’s environment committee said there was not enough evidence to ensure that parts of the plastic could not split away and travel into the chalk rivers nearby.

Coun Mike Hewitt added: “It is environmentally wrong to put plastic on roads where first thing they’d do is sift out into rivers.

"Before we go along this route we seriously need to think about where the final bit of plastic ends up.

“We know grit finishes up in rivers, our chalk streams are precious and we shouldn’t start risking polluting our water until we know it is 100 per cent safe.”