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The Big Freeze that hit Britain this winter inflicted massive damage on our road network. Snow, ice and plummeting temperatures not only made it the severest winter in 30 years, they also left potholed roads to be repaired up and down the country.

Councils have been working flat out to repair the most severely affected roads. But they still face a significant, and expensive, task to fix the lesser damage which, if left, would become a danger to road users and increasingly expensive to repair.

And to make sure it is spent on our roads, the money will be ring-fenced, with each local authority publishing a brief report on the work they’ve carried out with the funding.

This means the funding will go where it should go – to plug the potholes.

Rachel is making sure that Leeds City Council spends the money wisely, by keeping them up to date with the worst roads in Leeds West - if you've bumped over a particularly bad road recently we want to hear from you!

Labour has also recently announced plans to make sure utility companies repair roads properly after carrying out their work. Taken together, it is clear proof of a determination to tackle maintenance problems and make our local roads safe and fit for purpose.

All this comes on top of a trebling in Labour’s investment for local road maintenance over the past decade – up from £265 million in 2000/01 to £809 million in 2010/11.

But we understand we must also look forward to help avoid another sudden deterioration in road conditions in the future. So local authorities will be encouraged to focus on longer term resurfacing and maintenance work.