THE rising number and cost of potholes will reach a "tipping point" this year as funding for Cumbria is announced.

Agencies say greater investment is needed to repair routes and keep drivers, cyclists and pedestrians safe.

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Cumbria has been allocated £2,053,000 in its Pothole Action Fund for 2017/2018, up from £1,444,000 in the previous year.

Responding to the figure, Councillor Keith Little, Cumbria County Council's cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "It's never going to be enough.

"With the size of our road network, we're not even close to playing catchup.

"However, we are grateful for the money we've received and it'll be used to carry out repairs wherever they're needed."

It costs on average of £47 to repair a pothole as part of a planned project in England so the money could effectively fix more than 43,000 potholes in Cumbria.

However, recent flooding and severe weather has intensified the rate of deterioration in some parts of the county's network, with water freezing and breaking up asphalt at greater speeds than usual.

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On Monday to mark National Pothole Day Evening Mail readers got in touch to reveal their worst stretches of road for potholes and streets which needed the most urgent repairs.

Some of the suggestions included: Risedale Road in Barrow, Dundee Street on Barrow Island, and Market Street with Abbey Road junction in Dalton.

Cllr Little said: "They come and go daily. They're like the weather. There's also different situations in different areas but they tend to be in places where there's an increased water pressure.

"Even though we're the fourth-largest highways authority, our roads don't get a great deal of traffic, but the network is made up of a lot of A and B roads.

"On them we've got articulated trucks that weigh between 30 and 40 tonnes."

The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils believe 2017 could be the "tipping point" for potholes. It warned that by 2019, the overall repair figure across England and Wales could rise to £14 billion.

The LGA also says that the repair time for potholes has surged from an estimated 10.9 years in 2006 to 14 years in 2016.