HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds destined to fix potholes on south Cumbria's roads is nothing more than a "sticking plaster on an open wound," says a local councillor.

In a bid to tackle the poor state of the UK's road network the government has made a £70m fund available to local authorities. In 2017/18 Cumbria has been allocated £2.05m, £152,000 of which will be spent in Barrow.

However, in spite of this enormous sum of money, it is felt it barely scratches the surface in addressing our area's issues.

Barrow Borough Councillor for Risedale, Kevin Hamilton, was scathing in his assessment of the funding. He said: "It's a sticking plaster on an open wound. To put it one way just to fix Jubilee Bridge when we go to resurface that - we're going to have to put a special surface down - that will cost £6.5m."

The most recent department for transport figures show that in 2016 more than 27,000 potholes were repaired in Cumbria, costing £53 per pothole to fix.

Based on that costing the newly allocated £152,000 in Barrow could repair more than 2,800 potholes.

Walney south county councillor, Frank Cassidy, said: "The sum of money is fairly modest when measured against all the repairs that are needed on our roads and in our back streets. That said, there will be enough funding to carry out routine maintenance as and when required."

Copeland Borough Councillor for Newtown, Fee Wilson, said when it came to fixing potholes the job was done well, but "piecemeal" in its approach.

She said: "My personal feeling is that we have got far far too many potholes. It is like a piecemeal approach."

Across the districts in Cumbria there are ways for residents to report faults on the road. Through the council website potholes can be reported and logged via an interactive map.

Ulverston east SLDC councillor Mark Wilson said millions more in funding was needed if they were to address the district's problems. But it was unwise to "look a gift horse in the mouth."

He said: "I'm sure we would rather have between four to eight million but we're not so stupid to look a gift horse in the mouth."

As in Copeland, Cllr Wilson said it was also a question of the quality of the repair. If better fixes were made in the first instance, crews would not have to keep returning to trouble spots across the county.

What is the pothole action fund, and what have the county council said?

In a bid to help improve stretches of the country's road network which are gradually succumbing to the ravages of time and over-use, the government has made millions available for repairs.

In January 2017 the then transport minister Andrew Jones announced 1.2bn of public money destined for local road networks.

£70 of that money was made available to local councils to repair potholes in the respective areas.

On repairs being made to the roads in Cumbria, a county council spokesman said: "During periods of prolonged cold weather, road surfaces are much more susceptible to damage, particularly when periods of wet weather are followed by freezing conditions – the freeze and thaw cycle exacerbates any smaller defects on the road, making potholes and surface damage more likely.

"Within our overall highways maintenance budget we allocate money specifically for pothole repairs, but with limited resources it is incredibly difficult to keep pace. We review all potholes reported to us and members of the public can report a pothole via the council website or by calling the Highways Hotline on 0300 303 2992 – this will generate a reference number which can be used to track the status of repair. “

Barrow council's pot hole hit list:

In November 2017 Barrow Borough Councillors identified a hit list of streets in the area which needed immediate maintenance work.

With £152,000 of funding made available through the county council, 18 streets have been identified to be worked on over the 2017/18 financial year.

Here is a list of those streets, and how much money will be spend on improving them:

Dominion Street, £7,000

Euryalus Street, £7,000

Church Lane, £7,000

Central Drive, £9,000

Empress Drive, £5,000

Southampton Street, £7,000

Schneider Square-The Strand, £6,000 Hawcoat Lane, £10,000

Abbotsvale, £10,000

Flass Lane, £9,000

Lesh Lane, £12,000

Longway, £10,000

Coronation Drive, £13,000

Ulverston Road, £9,000

Chapel Street, £9,000

The Green - Lindal, £7,000

Leece Lane, £5,000

Parkhouse Road, £8,000

Our readers' pothole bug bears:

In the run up to this story we appealed on Facebook to our readers to identify areas in Barrow they felt needed urgent road repairs.

Thousands of people saw our post and dozens left comments with where they thought needed improvement.

Stephen Snell said: "The junction of Kent Street. Large holes have been there for years."

Matt Rogerson said: "Parker Street, the full length. In Rawlinson Street a big hole is forming to the side of a grid just as you come in from Greengate Street."

And Michelle Turner added: "Provinicial Street is horrendous. How no one's entire car hasn't fallen down the hole in Little Subs car park is beyond me."