KIRKLEES Council was inundated with reports of potholes in 2012.

On average, 30 new potholes were reported every single day. Up to December 18 the council logged a total of 10,477 requests for repairs on its Streetscene and Housing system – a rise of more than 1,400 compared with the previous year.

Huddersfield was the worst area, with more than 3,200 potholes, followed by the Holme and Colne Valleys with 2,700.

Over the year, an average of 20 potholes a day were reported to the council by members of the public. The others were recorded by road safety teams.

These latest figures have been announced in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

A council spokesman said: “We have repaired 35,000 potholes in 10,500 streets to date since April 1, 2012.

“The repairs range from individual filling to larger scale patching/surfacing covering a number of defective areas. Up to January 2 we had no backlog and are continuing to repair reported potholes in Kirklees.

“Once again we have had many potholes in Kirklees and have carried out extensive repairs with our in-house teams, supported by external contractors.”

The council says it does not have a specific budget for pothole repairs, as the money comes out of the Highways Maintenance budget of £2.3m.

But last year it overspent after officials were forced to draft in extra resources to cope with damage caused by the very wet summer.

In October just £50,000 remained from the £400,000 set aside for potholes, with a further £200,000 for “small patching works.”

A Kirklees Council spokesman added: “Exceptionally wet weather last summer has increased the number of potholes, and additional resources were brought in throughout the summer to enable requests to be responded to within the agreed priority timescales.”

The council has a three-tier response time for potholes, with those regarded as dangerous getting repaired within two hours, urgent within 24 hours and standard within eight weeks.

The snow and ice forecast for the rest of the month is likely to take a heavy toll on the district’s roads.

The budget for 2013 is the same as last year.