The leader of Wiltshire Council has said that velocity patcher machines can buy the council several more years of use for damaged roads.

Cllr Richard Clewer recorded the update whilst visiting a maintenance team to look at the results of the council’s further investment into highways.

He described the work as “really impressive to see”, explaining that the Bobcat team he was observing was effective at dealing with road surfaces that had broken up over a bigger area.

READ MORE: Rise in pothole reports expected in Wiltshire as weather worsens

The council expects a rise in the number of reported potholes as the winter weather affects roads.The council expects a rise in the number of reported potholes as the winter weather affects roads. (Image: Wiltshire Council) The council leader said: “They’re doing twenty or thirty times the work in an hour that the manual gangs would be able to do.”

Referring to a velocity patcher machine, he added: “It’s putting down a layer that is buying us a few years for a road that will need more significant work at some time, but if we catch it early, that investment of a small amount of resource means that we get several years more use from the road.”

Cllr Clewer concluded: “Overall, we’ve now put a total of 22 million pounds extra just into our roads.

“That’s on top of the 20.7 million the government gave us this year.”

The machines use high-speed air to clear potholes, coat the area with cold bitumen, and then apply aggregate coated in bitumen at high speed.