POTHOLES cost Surrey County Council £1.2million in insurance claims over the past four years – the highest by any local authority in the UK.

So highway bosses were pleased that Monday’s third annual national pothole day, came hot on the heels of the lastest government announcement last Friday that it has been allocated £19.6million to improve roads and fix potholes – £3.7m more than last year.

Of that total £1.3 million has been allocated as part of a national Pothole Action Fund, which aims to fix more than four million potholes across the country by 2020/21.

King’s Road, in Haslemere, is due to be resurfaced for part of its length, starting today (Wednesday) taking two days. The resurfacing work, between the trading estate and Haslemere Leisure Centre, is due to take place from 7.30am to 5pm and street parking will be suspended.

But contractors Kier have promised to maintain access to driveways where possible. The work is costing £19,730, allocated from the county’s Local Committee for Waverley 2016/17 budget for road repairs.

The Local committees in each of Surrey’s 11 districts and boroughs are responsible for selecting 20 per cent of the roads to be repaired. Each one is able to choose a number of schemes up to a maximum length of 1.3miles.

The priority placed on a road is determined by the condition of the road, the importance of the road to the county’s infrastructure and the risk the road poses to the public.