POTHOLE repair costs rose by 55 per cent for motorists in the four years up to 2020, according to new research from insurance firm Admiral.

The company's investigation found the average pothole repair claim in 2020 was £2,700 — up from the £1,700 average in 2016.

The revelations come just weeks after a row in Cheshire West over the level of government support the council received to fix the road issues.

Cheshire West and Chester Council was given £9,929,000 for highway maintenance — with £4,413,000 earmarked for pothole repairs — but Labour councillors say this sum is 20 per cent lower than the previous year.

Cllr Karen Shore, Labour Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways & Strategic Transport told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "This [allocation] represents a 22 per cent reduction from last year's combined maintenance allocation.

"What is required is guaranteed and sustained increases in funding over the longer-term to tackle the severe backlog that exists."

However, Cllr Shore's Conservative opposite number, Cllr Simon Eardley, has said that the authority's road repair work "isn't good enough".

He said: "At the Cabinet meeting [on February 10] future plans around the council's highways maintenance contract were discussed. Across the borough, we know from recent customer satisfaction surveys that the opinion of local residents should be of great concern to the leadership of the council.

"There's serious dissatisfaction with the speed of the repair of roads; 20 out of 23 key benchmark indicators are below the national average and the overall satisfaction level is well below the national average.

"This isn't good enough. This funding is a welcome boost but we need to see it deployed quickly and effectively to improve the situation that local taxpayers find themselves with as they try and get about across the highways network."

Admiral's report also discovered that, as newer cars are fitted with more advanced technology, designed to help detect a problem with the vehicle, the costs to repair them become more expensive if damaged.

The findings come as the insurer also revealed a 30 per cent spike in pothole related claims over the same time period.