County council road chiefs say more than 20,000 potholes have been repaired across Kent since the start of the year.

KCC is spending £7.5m on fixing roads which have badly deteriorated over winter - against estimates that there is a £630m backlog of repairs.

Following the Beast from the East last month, where snow covered Kent, the council says it has filled in 11,279 potholes since the start of March.

It carried out 16,036sqm of resurfacing where multiple potholes were found over the same period.

Cllr Mike Whiting, KCC cabinet member for highways, said: “This year saw some freezing cold temperatures which has significantly contributed to the number of potholes on our roads.

"Water gets into the road surface and when it freezes it expands causing cracks and subsequently potholes.

“Once temperatures warmed up, KCC immediately began work to repair our network.

"We ensured the main routes in Kent were fixed first alongside emergency repairs and in April began a dedicated pothole blitz tackling our entire network.”

He said the council will review progress in June to decide if it needed to spend more money.

“People often assume these are quick and temporary fixes – and in emergency situations they will be to ensure the road is safe - but I can assure you these are revisited for a permanent fix.”

He urged people to continue to report roads where potholes had not been fixed.

Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Rob Bird said: "I have some sympathy with KCC which has been systematically been starved of funds by the government to the extent that has squeezed essential services.

"But we do run the risk of people questioning whether our roads are becoming dangerous."

He questioned whether the council was recycling previous announcements about tackling the huge backlog.

He added: "A lot of this is hardly new."

By area, KCC says it has fixed the following number of potholes since March:

Ashford: 835

Canterbury: 1210

Dartford: 190

Dover: 1,025

Gravesham: 764

Maidstone: 1,476

Sevenoaks: 1,284

Shepway: 565

Swale: 1,471

Thanet: 762

Tonbridge & Malling: 511

Tunbridge Wells: 1,182

KCC has contracted the work out to Kent companies to ensure quicker response times to reports of problems.

The companies are O’Rourke Contracting in Dartford and Gravesham, SCG Kent in Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells, Dukes Contractors in Tonbridge and Malling and Maidstone, Amey LG in Swale and Canterbury, Steadline in Ashford and Folkestone and Hythe and A R Cook Contracting in Thanet and Dover.