Today I urged council officers to tackle the pothole problems at pace and to keep residents informed about such progress.

There is a backlog of work with potholes across Aberdeenshire after the worst winter in 10 years and lockdown curtailing normal maintenance work.

At the infrastructure services committee this morning councillors heard that officers are working hard to catch up, with contractors being brought in to help catch up.

The Roads Service has been busy with a surface dressing programme, which is now coming to a conclusion. Staff will be turning their attention to potholes and urban streets. Local roads teams are progressing with the higher ranking repairs before moving on to other programmed work. However, although work is ramping up, the council is struggling to recruit to their teams in the Roads, Waste and Landscape Service.

I also encouraged officers to keep residents in the picture about repairing our roads. People want to know when the potholes that affect them are going to be repaired. I was told that the service is aware of the need to do so and more detailed information is to be made available on the council website as well as improving the feedback to residents when they report a problem.

I’ll post further updates as I get them.