A NEW report has named Wiltshire Council as the highest spending local authority when it comes to potholes.

MoneySuperMarket has obtained data from across the UK by using Freedom of Information requests.

The comparison site found Wiltshire Council has forked out £69 million since 2017 fixing 43,280 potholes.

This is nearly £18 million more than Warwickshire, which spent £51 million.

In Swindon, 20,127 potholes were reported since January 2017 with £2,585,102 spent to fix them.

Coun Bridget Wayman, cabinet member for highways of Wiltshire Council, countered: “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.”