Suffolk could get extra pothole money if targets met, says Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket MP Peter Prinsley

Suffolk could get extra pothole money if targets are met, a Suffolk MP has said.

The county council is due to receive £11.7 million from the Government this year to fix potholes, but Dr Peter Prinsley, MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, says more could be on the way depending on whether targets are met by the authority.

Speaking in Parliament on the state of the roads, Dr Prinsley said his own son had been involved in a 'horrendous bicycle crash' due to a pothole.

He said: "People in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket must navigate pockmarked and pimpled streets—how depressing and frustrating.

"People are forced to accept a fear of damage or even injury as a precondition of using our roads, and they are locked in extended battles for compensation with the council and their insurers."

The council will begin receiving the money later this month but will need to publish annual progress reports and 'prove public confidence' in the work it carries out to get the full amount.

Authorities which fail the Government's conditions will lose out on a quarter of the funding.