A "pothole blitz" is aiming to see 40,000 road defects fixed within two years – and initial results have been welcomed by Staffordshire County Council's Reform UK leadership.

The authority set out its "roadmap to a better network" earlier this year, and thousands of defects have been tackled over the past few months.

At the latest full council meeting, leader Martin Murray's statement to members said: "Highways crews at are looking to fix 40,000 potholes by the end of March 2027. The blitz will see defects across the county targeted by crews, including 14 new crews, undertaking the crucial task of fixing the county's roads.

"The focus is all part of our £15 million extra investment in highways over the next two years, specifically concentrating on those lower-level potholes that can be such an annoyance and inconvenience for our motorists.

"The extra £15 million is also being used to fund innovative ways of fixing potholes, such as screeding and urban velocity patching, to ensure crews have the right machinery for the nature and location of each job.

"Already, June saw 4,655 defects repaired across the county, a marked increase on previous years, which is fantastic news."

Councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for strategic highways, presented a four-month update on action to fix more than 31,000 road defects to a scrutiny committee meeting last month. This includes a two-year campaign to address a backlog of more than 16,000 "lower level" potholes (known as category 3).

Speaking at the latest Economy, Infrastructure and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, he said: "Additional repair crews are on the ground working on the workstack reduction programme (which began on April 1) and these crews are intended to be increased even further. As of the week beginning 13th July, 14,582 potholes had been addressed."

Councillor Thomas Baker said: "On the backlog of potholes, I know it's been increasing over the years to 16,000 Cat Cs. Is it still climbing up?"

Councillor Mason said: "The overall backlog is about 31,000 defects, of which half are what you would term pothole-type defects. It has been climbing and it now just starting to nudge down in terms of the numbers.

"We came out of the winter and this is the first quarter (April to June), so it was still climbing as we came into April. We have had to fix those winter defects and start on the programme of decline.

"It's very early days after the end of Quarter One, but the signs are good. The number of potholes we are filling in terms of that backlog is where we would want it to be and probably a bit higher than I expected it to be, but we won't take the pressure off.

"As this year goes on, you will see that 16-17,000 number start to decrease and it should decrease significantly. Remember it is a two-year programme though, so don't expect by next March that it has disappeared in its entirety.

"We've still got a degrading network, we will still have potholes occurring actively through those winter months, so we will have a bit of topping up and we have to recognise that. But the target is 16,000 repairs for that additional investment, to be taken off that backlog stack."

Councillor Simon Tagg said: "It's good to see a plan being put down, but what our residents want to see is the backlog reduced, improved repairs and vital infrastructure protected. We want to see defects repaired particularly before they become a bigger and more expensive problem.

"We need a target year on year, so we as a scrutiny committee and the public can judge the success of this roadmap. We see failures in pothole repairs and we also see temporary repairs with the big 'Ts' – are there any figures to show what repairs have failed that we have to go out on again, and going forward will we have a target around 'right first time' rather than continually having to go back?"

Councillor Mason responded: "Early on, there didn't seem to be a measure of those temporary and failed repairs and we have changed that. We are now able to provide a measure of them.

"The roadmap seeks to move away as much as possible from using temporary repairs. It won't be zero because we are going to have to be able to react.

"If you have an emergency repair you have two hours, you are going to put some Tarmac in that hole. Organising a full repair in two hours in this environment isn't realistic, so we have to acknowledge the art of the possible.

"The intention is we will move to a position where we can be more proactive with things like preventative dressings and less reactive – particularly coming out of winter with repairing potholes that have occurred due to the winter season, which is always going to be a challenge. As good as your roads are, you are always going to get potholes through that winter season.

"If we get the backlog down, we reduce those vulnerabilities, and this is why the backlog programme has been developed. I can't say what the number will be by 2028, but we will be showing those numbers, we will be measuring those numbers and we will be giving a result of what we have achieved year on year in terms of that proactive change."

Committee chair Councillor Andrew Clissett said: "It's great to see improvements on fixing roads and the backlog of defects. The fact we've gone from 31,000 to 16,000 defects is great."