BOTCHED road repairs are still being carried out in the city despite assurances problems with road maintenance were being ironed out, it has been claimed.

Deputy Conservative group leader in the city, Mathew Holmes, said workmen had been seen putting tarmacadam into holes with their hands and pressing it down with their fingers.

The Derby Telegraph has reported how Derby City Council has put together a 12-month action plan to tackle a mounting backlog of pothole repairs.

These have been allowed to build up due to the poor performance of a contract with road partners Carillion.

The council said it was now confident it had improved the way the contractors were working. But Mr Holmes said he disagreed.

"Workmen arrived at Manor Road in Chellaston this week to repair holes but residents have reported that at least one repair was carried out by a workman using his fingers to press the tarmacadam down," he said. "The repair programme has descended into a chaotic short-term programme of basic emergency patching.

"In my view, the council's current action plan agreed by cabinet this month merely confirms what we already knew, that the Derby Roads Partnership isn't currently fit for purpose and that it requires a large amount of extra funding to address even the most basic day-to-day repairs year-on-year."

Councillor Lucy Care, the cabinet member responsible for road maintenance, said she had not seen this type of repair happening before and an investigation was taking place.

She said: "I wasn't aware of it until this particular example was highlighted and I have been told this incident will be investigated and the relevant staff spoken to, but this is not common practice, as far as I am aware."

But Mr Holmes is calling on Mrs Care to make a statement at the full council meeting on Wednesday to explain what she is doing to sort out the problems. The Tory group has already submitted a motion which will be put to the meeting calling for a special scrutiny commission to be set up to look into the contract.

Mrs Care said she thought the Conservatives had made this proposal late in the day.

She said: "This issue has been highlighted through audit and accounts committee meetings and overview and scrutiny. We are now a long way down the line to hopefully having a solution. So, it has been monitored and, if they wanted to pick up and run with this, it could have been more appropriate to do that six months ago."