More than £700,000 has been handed to Bexley Council to deal with potholes and other road defects.

The Chancellor announced an extra £420m for roads in last month’s budget – and it has now been revealed how much of that will go to improving roads in Bexley.

Councillor Peter Craske, cabinet member for places, said at a council meeting on November 13: “That allocation for us is £703,000, which will be spent between now and next March. It is one of the highest figures in London which is good.

“We will get to work developing a  programme, focusing on priority work first. It is very good news for everyone.”

Potholes cost motorists upwards of £320m a year, with research suggesting one in five mechanical failures can be put down to the road defects.

Dodgy roads in Bexley cost the council more than £100,000 last year in compensation payouts to drivers and cyclists, according to data released earlier this year.

It comes as new budget proposals for Bexley feature new technology to deal with potholes.

The council is planning to use artificial intelligence to carry out inspection of roads.

Currently only about a quarter of the road network is checked for problems, but it’s hoped investing in new technology will be able to scope the entirety of the system, spotting issues before they become even more costly to repair.

All proposals in Bexley’s budget will be finalised at a meeting in March.

Potholes cost British drivers and insurers at least £1m collectively a month due to car repair bills, according to estimates from the AA.