Potholes across Shropshire may take even longer to fix under new proposals. Shropshire Council has revealed plans that will see repair for some potholes on its strategic network take seven times longer than the existing official response times. It says the current “reactive response times” do not support the authority’s policy for minimising cost over time and that a longer response will see work carried out “right first time”. The proposals, which are part of a public consultation, come just weeks after it was revealed the highways budget for Shropshire will be slashed by £10 million over the next two years. A report by the highways team says the council has used a “robust risk-based approach” to its highways safety inspections for many years. It continues: “The categories have been updated to improve consistency from the perspective of the highway user and clarity when compared with national practice. “There are two reactive responses (immediate and urgent) which are to be made or repaired within one day; planned responses can be completed within longer timescales.” Under the new plans potholes on the council’s strategic network that are greater than 5cm (2ins) would take up to a week to fix when the current official response time is 24 hours. Potholes on the same routes that are greater than 2.5cm will take 28 days instead of five working days. Also affected are urban link and local access roads with potholes larger than 10cm deep taking up to seven days to repair rather than the current 24-hour deadline. Meanwhile, those over 5cm on urban and rural link, and urban local access roads will take 28 days rather than five working days. And potholes over 2.5cm on urban link roads will be repaired on a risk-based response instead of within 20 working days, while potholes over 2.5cm on rural link, and urban and rural local access roads, will be moved to a risk-based response instead of being part of the current programme of works. The report adds: “Obligations [from the current regime] force a reactive response that does not support the council’s asset management policy for a sustainable network that minimises cost over time. “A longer planned response would permit repairs to be done ‘right first time’.” The consultation runs until August 23 and is available via shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/highways-safety-inspection-review