Mr Cairns said: “It goes without saying that the issue of potholes is very a common problem raised on the doorstep. People are weary of seeing yellow lines painted around what can be dangerous potholes just to protect the local authority. Some of the potholes are left untouched for up to a month and worsen rapidly – these timescales should be reviewed.
“The local authority has a more targeted operation maintaining our roads but with the weather turning, we could face the perfect storm of bad weather combined with more potholes forming and a bigger compensation bill for the authority.”