ALL priority potholes in Swansea are being filled within 24 hours of being reported, say council chiefs.

And they are encouraging the public to put this 100 per cent service to the test.

The authority said its emergency road repair team fixed 279 holes in April, May and June — that's four to five each working day, on average.

"We rely on residents to keep us informed of any damage to roads," said Councillor John Hague, cabinet member for environment.

"Residents need to have faith that when they report a road fault, depending on how serious it is, it will be dealt with immediately."

The council said staff who took calls from the public had to decide whether the offending hole was a priority or not.

This depended on the risk it posed to road users and pedestrians. Post photographers have been zooming in on potholes from Penlan, Brynmill, Derwen Fawr to Waungron, near Grovesend, illustrating there is still plenty to do.

The council said non-priority potholes would be tackled as part of longer-term road maintenance, but it declined to speculate about time scales involved.

This year's pothole woe has been attributed to the freezing winter when water repeatedly got under road surfaces and expanded as ice, cracking the surface and creating the saucepan-sized hazards.

Swansea councillors have shovelled an extra £100,000 into emergency pothole repairs on account of the deep freeze, while the Assembly handed the authority £264,000 as part of a Wales-wide grant.

In March, head of streetscene, Carl Humphreys, said its road repair team faced a long, hard summer filling potholes, adding: "And, in reality, it's a bit like painting the Severn Bridge — as soon as you finish one end, you have to start at the beginning all over again."

Yesterday he said the emergency road repair team was being complemented by two other road maintenance units — one run by outside contractors — under the so-called Patch (Priority Action for Community Highways) scheme.

The scheme delivers two-week blitzes on specific areas where roads need particular attention and, according to the council, had resulted in improvements to roads in St Thomas, Bonymaen, Llansamlet, Castle, Clydach and Cwmbwrla.

Swansea has some 1,100km of carriageway and 1,500km of footways, and details of the council's latest five-year highway maintenance programme are due to be released shortly.

Major roads are looked after by the Highways Agency.

Councillor Hague added: "Highway maintenance is something that our residents judge us on and so I'm pleased that our performance figures show we're doing a good job."

Fixing potholes seems likely to be warmly welcomed by drivers. One, Robert Lumsdaine, aged 60, of Penlan, said: "As a taxi driver, it causes a rough ride for passengers."

The Post has previously helped tackle the issue of potholes.

Our Get it Sorted campaign encouraged people to contact us with pothole problems or other road complaints, which we then passed on to the relevant authorities.

It proved hugely successful in getting problems fixed on city streets.

To report a pothole, or other highway faults, phone highway maintenance free on 0800 132081.

richard.youle@swwmedia.co.uk