DOZENS of roads in south Wiltshire are to have new surfaces this summer, in the biggest road maintenance programme undertaken by Wiltshire Highways Partnership for more than 20 years.

More than 350 miles of roads will get new bitumen surfaces, after county councillors agreed to release £3m towards bringing the county's roads system up to scratch.

Graeme Hay, service manager for the partnership, told the Journal it would be a welcome return to the road-preserving process.

"It enables us to accelerate the catch-up in local road maintenance and protect the fabric of these roads from further deterioration," Mr Hay said.

"This is being done with a view to reducing the incidence of pothole defects over the next few years.

"It is one of the largest surfacing programmes of the past 20 or more years and it represents a clear and determined effort to restore our local routes to the standards we would all prefer to see," he said.

The programme is being co-ordinated through local community teams, led by a divisional highways manager and two highway engineers.

Four main areas will be tackled this year - Tisbury, Downton, Mere and Amesbury.

In the Tisbury area, the programme will include various roads in Tisbury, Swallowcliffe, Fovant, Chilmark, Ansty, Donhead St Andrew, Donhead St Mary, Tollard Royal, Berwick St John and West Hatch.

In the Downton area, the Portway at Laverstock will be resurfaced, as will roads through Farley, Pitton, Grimstead, Miles Lane in Whiteparish, Lyburn Road, Landford, various roads in Redlynch and Alderbury, Bodenham village road, Britford village road, Homington, Rockbourne Road in Coombe Bissett and most of Downton, excluding Barbers Lane.

In the Mere area, several roads in Semley, East Knoyle, Zeals and Stourton will be resurfaced.

In Mere itself, resurfacing work will be done to White Road, Castle Street, Salisbury Street, Water Street, The Lynch, Mill Lane and the old A303 Gillingham road.

Details of roads in the Amesbury area which are to be resurfaced will be announced later.