Regular readers of this column will know that potholes are a big bugbear of mine. Last year I enlisted your help to help identify the worst affected roads and areas in the local area.

I know that many of you are also fed up with the state of our roads. So I thought you might be interested in hearing what progress the now Reform-led Essex County Council has made, since we swept to victory in the local elections in May.

For a start, since May, Essex Highways have made over 6,700 highway repairs; in July, pothole repairs were 60% higher than they were in the same period last year.  

This follows the Reform administration declaring a Pothole Emergency on day one after taking control of the council from the Conservatives.

Reform have made an additional £7.5 million investment in additional pothole repairs and improvements to the road network.

This investment has funded extra repair crews – there is now a dedicated team working in each of Essex’s 12 district, borough, and city council areas, including right here in Tendring.

Last month Essex County Council launched a new campaign, ‘Pothole? We’re on it’, and an accompanying dashboard so that residents can track the progress being made in their local area and see for themselves where repair works are taking place.

You can access the dashboard at www.essex.gov.uk/pothole-progress. On the same page you will see that there’s also a link to report a pothole to Essex Highways.

We all rightly expect better roads, and of course there’s still a lot more to do. However, the measures being taken by the Council and the repair figures do show things are moving in the right direction. This is a good example of the real change you get when you elect Reform UK.