Councillors who declared a "roads emergency" in Stafford Borough have renewed their call to Staffordshire County Council to tackle the issue after a biker who hit a pothole in Stoke-on-Trent died.

An inquest heard last month that Andrew Freakley, 43, had been overtaking a van when he hit the one-metre square pothole on Park Hall Road, which catapulted him into the path of an oncoming car.

Councillors in neighbouring Stafford Borough are concerned about a similar tragedy happening on a Staffordshire road due to current conditions.

Gnosall and Woodseaves representative Scott Spencer, who has previously called on the borough authority to declare a roads emergency, highlighted the issue once again at Tuesday's full council meeting (April 14).

In a question submitted before the meeting, he said the state of roads was "arguably worse than ever and in many areas unsafe for passage".

He added: "This council approved a road emergency motion over a year ago, to which we had no satisfactory response or, certainly for rural roads, little demonstratable long-term actions or solutions from the administration at the time.

"Following the change of county council administration, can the leader of the council contact the county council, resubmit the borough's road emergency motion and reaffirm the significant safety concerns for all road users arising from the lack of discernible action and request a defined plan for the situation to be addressed?"

Speaking at Tuesday's meeting, Councillor Spencer said: "Unfortunately as borough councillors we don't have control of the roads, which is very frustrating.

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"For me, at most of the parish councils I go to the two main topics are either planning or roads, with very little improvement evidenced.

"I have been in my ward for seven years and the roads are the worst they have been in that time.

"I regularly take my children out on their bikes and I spend more time telling them to beware of the potholes than letting them see what's going on around them.

"I do welcome the fact the county is putting additional monies towards road repairs.

"But I think throwing more money at the issue isn't the problem – the problem is workmanship, the quality assurance and control of the work being conducted.

"They're not being done in the right place, they're done and a month later the pothole reappears.

"I am aware that some surface dressing is being done, but that to me is more of a sticking plaster over a significantly wider and bigger problem.

"I would like us to continue to put pressure on the county council to try and get the roads up to a standard where we're not going to have accidents, we're not going to damage vehicles, children can ride their bikes without a problem and people aren't dying as happened in Stoke."

The council's deputy leader Rob Kenney said his bakery business had been delivering around Staffordshire for more than 20 years and this year was the "worst ever" for road conditions.

He said his bakery was located on a narrow road with no pavement, which is part of a school route, and he had seen people tripping over potholes.

Councillor Mark Winnington, who represents Gnosall and Woodseaves, highlighted drainage issues and said two cars had recently been written off in his area.

He also told fellow members of the dangers to bikers posed by road defects.

He said: "You try going over a pothole, especially a long pothole, on a motorbike and it's not good. I understand there was a young man who sadly died in Stoke-on-Trent – when do we have it in Stafford?

"I hope I'm wrong, but the way the roads are going it's horrendous and it's not fair on people who want to go about their business.

"There is no road sweeping; if you are on a motorbike and you hit gravel it's just like marbles and your bike goes away from underneath you."

Council leader Aidan responded that he would write to the county council to express the borough authority's concerns about Staffordshire's roads.

He added: "I'm more than happy to put into any correspondence I have with the county council about drainage – it might be useful if you could write to me with some details so that I can put that into the correspondence.

"It does sound like things aren't getting better, they're getting worse.

"The controlling group at the county council really ought to do more than they are doing at the moment."