ROAD chiefs have been given almost £1m extra from the Government to tackle Buckinghamshire’s battered roads.

The £969,500 for Buckinghamshire County Council will come from a £100m for councils announced in the Chancellor’s budget.

Thousands of potholes were created in Buckinghamshire as a result of two major snowfalls, in December and January.

Councillor Valerie Letheren said Whitehall was ‘very keen’ to see patching – where large parts of a road are filled in – rather than filling of individual holes.

She said: “We all know that recent winter was exceptional and even with the new funding we still need more monies but that is another story.

“But it will help us to bring the roads back to a much better standard.”

Yet Conservative Cllr Letheren said there are still a ‘significant number of potholes in larger roads’.

And council leader Cllr David Shakespeare said of repairs: “Unless it is a dangerous pothole it will not happen the next day and the public must understand that.”

The Government has demanded councils produce a statement by the end of October detailing how the cash has been spent.