A councillor claims Dartford is “being left behind” the rest of Kent in pothole repairs.

Opposition leader at Dartford Council Cllr Jonathon Hawkes (Lab) is unhappy as the borough has less money to repair roads than the rest of the county.

He said: “The roads in Dartford are in an appalling state and it’s not acceptable.

“This is a consequence of the huge cuts to pothole funding.

“Dartford is getting a very poor deal and it’s way behind the other districts.

“I would urge KCC (Kent County Council) to ensure that Dartford gets a fair deal.”

Allocation of funds is determined equally by the length of the roads and the amount of potholes reported.

KCC’s Dartford district manager Denise Sutton told the Darford and Kent County Council joint transportation board last week how her team are fixing the roads despite the budget restraints.

She said: “I’m not going to say Dartford is not getting a raw deal since we do have the lowest budget in the county and for the sake of transparency, the budget is available for everyone to see.

 “Please be assured that the work is being done.

“We have got the smallest budget. I do query this every year when it’s being allocated and basically it’s based on 50 per cent of the road network and it doesn’t take into account the heavily-trafficked [sic] roads in Dartford.

“We’ve got the most high-speed roads in the county, which comes with a challenge.

“These are not excuses, it just means the work comes at a cost.

“It’s not like I don’t drive the roads myself.”

She added her team of four are working at night to cover large patching areas to avoid “fighting a lot of fires and only doing essential work”.

The county council publishes pothole figures on its website every Friday.

Almost 350 potholes in Dartford have been repaired since March 1.

More than 3,400 sq metres have been covered with patching.