YORK’S transport bosses say work to repair potholes caused by the severe winter weather should be completed this month.

City leaders are spending an extra £80,000 to put extra staff on the front-line, to carry out the work.

The long-lasting snow and ice in December and January left more than 7,000 potholes on York’s roads, causing damage and dismay for many motorists.

Two extra teams have been working on repairs already, and Coun Ann Reid, City of York Council’s executive member for neighbourhood services, is next Tuesday set to extend the additional work until the end of May. A list of major repairs has been drawn up, with many pothole repairs being combined with wider resurfacing work.

The council had £405,000 in its budget for repairs and has also received a £205,000 grant from the Government.

Coun Reid said: “After a normal winter we usually have three gangs working to repair potholes, this year we have increased that to five in order to deal with the unusually large amount of damage caused by the cold weather.

“The proposal is to extend the use of the additional gangs until the end of May, by which time officers expect the number of potholes needing repair will have returned to normal for the time of year.”

“Neighbourhood services staff have had a massive task to deal with and I would like to thank them for their ongoing hard work to help repair the extensive damage by the extreme weather.”

Coun Reid will consider a report into the issue at a meeting at Guildhall at 4pm next Tuesday.

At the same meeting, she will also be asked to back the launch of a “mid-summer clean-up campaign”, aimed at keeping York clean.