POTHOLE repairs in Oxford have more than doubled year-on-year as city council teams take advantage of the quieter roads during lockdown.

Oxford Direct Services' (ODS) highways and engineering team repaired 1,531 defects from the final week of March to the end of April, compared to 708 over the same period in 2019.

This included 638 pothole repairs, plus 381 inspections, in work that will go alongside £234,000 worth of improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.

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Nigel Chapman, the council's cabinet member for customer focused services, hopes the impact will be felt for years to come.

He said: “A well-maintained road network is essential for helping keyworkers, whether they are emergency vehicles responding to calls or NHS workers travelling to and from work. But it can be hard to repair during normal daily use.

"Whilst the roads are quiet, ODS has been following Public Health England safety guidance and carrying out repairs that we will all benefit from when the lockdown is over.

“Coupled with the improvements that the city council and county council are funding for pedestrians and cyclists, the longer-term legacy of this period of reduced traffic and increased defect repairs will soon become be apparent for all road users.

“This will include increased bicycle parking and wider cycle paths into Oxford, to enable drivers to park at the park and rides and carry out the rest of the journey by bike."

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Sophie Hearn, head of infrastructure at ODS, said that the group has brought forward planned resurfacing works 'across several areas' of the city centre.

She added: “Repairing potholes in your local area is particularly satisfying, as is knowing that a road you, your family, and key workers like the NHS, use regularly has been repaired to the highest possible standard.

“In this period we’ve found that we are also able to access those awkward potholes that are often inaccessible due to parked cars in controlled parking bays on city centre streets.

"It has also been a good time to tackle loose and rocking slabs on city centre footways."