The UK Government has awarded an additional £100m to councils to fund the repairs of potholes and other road damages caused by storms.

The funding will be used to repair nearly two million potholes, as well as help protect the roads from subsequent damages due to severe weather.

This year, the government approved £75m of funding from the Pothole Action Fund. In December last year, £46m was allocated for highways authorities.

UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads.

“We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

Under the new allocations, Devon City Council received £4.5m, of which £2.5m will be spent to quickly repair the A379 that was badly damaged by Storm Emma.

“We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.”

Norfolk and North Yorkshire councils received more than £3m, while North East CA, West Yorkshire CA and Lincolnshire received nearly £4.5m, £3.1m and £3.4m, respectively.

The government is also planning to invest more than £900,000 in innovations using connected vehicles that will help councils carry out maintenance works efficiently.

The vehicle trials will help councils procure necessary road condition data to plan and carry out pothole repairing works before they occur.

Blackpool Council has received £100,000 to lead on a digital inspector scheme with eight councils, a programme which will see the installation of high-definition cameras on vehicles to collect data on road and path conditions.

The data will be analysed to identify the deteriorating roads.