Darlington Borough Council has said there is a "robust" scheme in place to deal with potholes after data showed the length of time it took to deal with reported issues.

The number of potholes in Darlington reached 6,401 in 2021/22, with one pothole taking 91 days to repair according to data released by Freedom of Information Request.

The data gathered by the Liberal Democrats shows Darlington Borough Council took on average 7.1 days to repair a pothole over a five year period from 2017-2022.

Pothole repairs took an average of 8.9 days to complete in 2019/2020.

Most read

The final stretch to the elections! Get comprehensive analysis and unbiased reporting for just £4 for 4 months. Don’t miss this deal!

Data for 2022 marks an increase from the previous financial year of 2020/21, when the town had 5,803 potholes that took an average of 5.7 days to repair.

A Darlington Borough Council spokesperson said: "Although we do all we can to keep the roads and pathways safe, we cannot repair every pothole as soon as it is formed."

“We have a robust inspection regime in place to identify potholes on our network and an easy way for the public to report any potholes that they see.

“Our highways team inspects a reported pothole within 24 hours of receiving the notification. We determine how urgently any potholes need repairing and then they are fixed within 20 days or 24 hours if they are dangerous. We repair an average of 6,000 to 8,000 potholes a year.”