A ‘pothole squad’ equipped with a machine that can fix a hole in eight minutes are part of a £240,000 programme heralded as "transformational".

But a report on the plan - delivered two days late - was slammed as ‘waffle’ by Harrow Council's Labour opposition.

Last year, the government announced £8.3 million of extra funding for road maintenance across England over the next ten years. Harrow will receive £241,000 for next year and a further £241,000 for the following year.

The council’s highways contractor, JB Riney, will assemble a new ‘pothole squad’ to find and fix potholes quickly throughout the borough.

Repairs can be carried out in eight minutes using the new £165,000 Pothole Pro JCB machine, which makes a permanent repair that recycles the existing surface material and creates minimal waste.

The council suggests this new approach will ensure the fixes are ‘long lasting, more sustainable, and reduce net emissions’.

Due to its size the JCB is suitable for main roads and others that are wide enough to accommodate it, but it would struggle to get down some smaller residential roads.

The report was submitted and approved by the cabinet on Wednesday (January 24).

The council claims it will mean "fixing more potholes than ever before" after more than 1,500 have been repaired over the past 12 months.

The pothole squad will roll out a ‘find and fix’ approach, a strategy that the council believes will improve results as it is not having to rely on inspection reports or customer complaints.

Cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and community safety Cllr Anjana Patel told the cabinet: “A lot of work and thought has gone into this report for a long, long time[…] We are keen to start repairing potholes and roads across the borough with this technology as soon as possible.”

Opposition councillor Peymana Assad called the report "11 pages of waffle" that someone spent the weekend "frantically typing up", as well as criticising its late publication.

Cllr Patel hit back, stating that the report is "only two days late" and the council took time to make sure it was something it wanted to do.

Harrow Council leader Cllr Paul Osborn said: “We have committed to fixing and resurfacing over 60 highways and footways, and we are putting this money into potholes. I think it will be a transformational service in the borough, enabling us to do things we have not been able to do before and to fix roads we’ve not been able to fix before.”

Cllr Osborn claimed he had been lobbying the government to provide this extra funding to London boroughs, which weren’t previously getting it, as he felt this was unfair in Harrow particularly as it has no Transport for London (TfL) roads so is responsible for all their maintenance.

He added: “I was very pleased that the government responded positively to our lobbying and that we get this money. I think it will make a really big difference."