Brent Council has outlined its pothole strategy after it was quizzed on the number of “cracked” and “dangerous” roads in the borough.

Cllr Reg Colwill, leader of Brent Conservatives, asked for assurances that the pavements and roads would be made safe over the coming months.

The council noted that a particularly harsh winter had created more damage on the roads than usual and that “all highways authorities are experiencing similar problems”.

But Cllr Shama Tatler, responsible for regeneration, highways and planning at Brent Council, said a clear structure is in place to cope with such issues.

She said: “The day-to-day business of the highways department is to keep the highways safe.

“Through our reactive maintenance programme, we will inspect our highway network and repair defects – potholes, tree root intrusion, etc – considered to pose the greatest risk to the public.”

She added that during “pothole season” – which runs from January to March – measures are implemented to help reduce the potential damage.

This includes a targeted patching programme on A roads in November and December and a ‘find and fix’ policy from January until March.

The council decided to bring road repair services back in-house at the start of the month following recurring disagreements with the previous contractor, Conway Aecom.

It claims that this will “meet residents’ needs better” since it will have more say on which repairs should be given priority.

And Cllr Tatler welcomed the decision to give the council £660,000 as part of the £420 million pothole repair initiative outlined in the Budget.

This, she explained, must be used by the end of March and officers are currently drawing up the relevant plans.