Caroline Topping, leader of East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County councillor, took to social media after filming a series of potholes along Rigbourne Hill.

She urged Suffolk Highways to "resurface the whole road" rather than carry out smaller patch repairs and criticised contractors for not using their initiative to tackle the problem.

Ms Topping said: "The potholes that are in my video, only some currently meet the criteria and others will do so with a very short space of time.

"It is a false economy not to do them all in one visit. They are all within a minute's walking distance of each other.

"The only sensible solution is to resurface the whole road properly and then it will, hopefully, last years."

Ms Topping added: "We were told when the new contractor took over that they would be able to use their initiative and fill in potholes that did not meet the 44mm depth criteria as well as the width criteria,

"And if they got called out for a pothole that did meet the criteria they could fill in others in the near vicinity that would meet the criteria within weeks of the first hole being filled.

"That has not been my experience as a councillor."

Potholes form when water seeps into cracks on the road surface, when this water freezes it expands and this makes the cracks larger.

This weakens the road and traffic breaks it up to create a small hole, which expands as more traffic passes over.

Heavy rain and cold conditions worsen existing potholes.

Suffolk Highways encourages people to report any issues they find with the roads via the highways online reporting tool highwaysreporting.suffolk.gov.uk.

Caroline Topping, Green Councillor for Beccles & Worlingham is the leader of East Suffolk Council (Image: East Suffolk Council)

Data obtained by a Freedom of Information request revealed in 2024 Suffolk County Council paid out over £29,000 in compensation for pothole-related vehicle damage.

© Eastern Daily Press