Contractors will be brought in to carry out “intensive” work on Northumberland’s road network in a bid to prevent potholes ahead of the winter months.

There was a significant impact on the highways over last winter due to “exceptionally” wet weather. The conditions saw drainage systems such as ditches and gullies blocked, resulting in increased flooding and damage to road surfaces.

Northumberland County Council’s cabinet has now approved plans to use external contractors to carry out an 18-week programme of ditch cleaning, channel sweeping and gully cleansing.

It is expected that the work will cost the council just over £1million, to be funded from the severe weather reserve.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the cabinet, portfolio holder for highways Coun John Riddle said: “We’re going to have an 18 week intensive period across the county, deploying different gangs of contractors brought in to really try and get on top of drainage and gulley cleansing.

“I’m confident that the roads are getting better. If we aren’t to deal with a lot of potholes in the winter, we must keep the water off the roads and this is the start of a solution.

“Severe weather events are becoming more common. We have had one of the wettest periods ever and it looks like we’re in for another wet period again.

“We must keep the water off the highways to maintain their integrity. We have firefighting it in some sense.

“We have a lot better data on which are the problem gullies and which ones we need to pay particular attention to and clean them more often. Some of them should be cleaned every three months rather than every three years.”

The decision came amid heavy rain across Northumberland which saw severe flooding in some parts of the county. Blyth town centre was particularly affected, with business owners describing the impact as ‘devastating.’

Over 70mm of rain fell in just 24hrs – which is more than the average rainfall expected for the whole of October.