DISTRICT highways officers are preparing for a battle to keep potholes off North Somerset’s roads following the freezing weather.

Council workers are out inspecting the state of the highways as they prepare a maintenance project for 2011.

It comes a year after the council repaired 3,500 potholes along 683 miles of roads in the first six months of 2010.

But, unlike last year, the council is unlikely to benefit from a �306,000 Department for Transport grant to improve road standards.

Executive member for highways, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, said highway maintenance was among the council’s funding priorities.

He said: “We have teams out at the moment inspecting the roads as they draw up a maintenance programme we are continuing. It is not likely we will get more Government funding, but I think there may be less potholes this time, partly because of the number of roads we resurfaced last year.

“But it is still too early to tell the true extent of the damage caused to the roads by the cold weather.”

Last year the Mercury led a Dump the Bumps campaign which saw dozens of readers’ pothole alerts passed on to the repair crews.

The idea proved a success, with dozens of potholes repaired and extra teams put on by the council to meet the high demand for work.