Chris Whitwood came up with the name as a joke with his friends, after his car was damaged when he hit a pothole.

Chris, who is standing as an independent in the Boston Castle ward, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that his friends started calling him Mr Potholes after grumbling to them about the state of the roads.

“A couple of months ago I hit a pothole and damaged the tyres of my car.

“It was nothing serious, but I was grumbling to friends about it at the time.

“The name evolved a bit, obviously his first name is going to be Phil.”

In the run-up to the deadline for candidate nominations, Chris’ neighbours asked if there was any way he could highlight the issue of road damage.

With his background in politics – Chris was the leader of the Yorkshire Party from 2019 to 2020 – he decided to stand for ward councillor as Phil Potholes.

“I was talking to a few neighbours in the run-up to the nominations, and they were saying that some of the potholes were getting pretty bad. Because I’ve got a bit of background in politics, they asked if there’s anything that we could do to raise awareness of it. This is quite a light-hearted way of raising the issue.

“In the grand scheme of things, it’s not the most significant issue, It’s one of those sort of low-level things that irritates the majority of people.”

Chris says that the problem is not unique to Boston Castle – or even to Rotherham.

“We all know that local authority funds are being cut, and that local authorities are hard-pressed for a multitude of reasons.

“If you’re someone who’s not particularly into politics, you might see council budget lines being squeezed, you might not be aware of how much pressure local authorities are under, but you can see the state of the roads and that’s really visible way of people seeing that and experiencing that – having to avoid potholes when they’re driving to the supermarket or on the way to work

“I always believe that politics can be a force for good. It’s very easy to grumble about politics and politicians and be quite cynical about them, sometimes that’s not without good reason. But I also think it’s a really good way you can actually make a difference.

“If this raises a point and brings people a smile, then that’s that’s a good thing.”

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council announced a £6.5m programme to repair potholes plaguing roads across the borough earlier this year.

The number of urgent pothole repairs in Rotherham has decreased by 64 per cent since 2014, with 12,100 requiring repair in 2023/24 to date.

However, only 27 per cent of residents surveyed last year were satisfied with the condition of Rotherham’s roads.

The £6.5m funding will be used to carry out extensive resurfacing works across the road network, targeting roads with high volumes of complaints and taking into account councillors’ priorities as well as input from highways inspections.

More than £2.8m will be used to repair A, B and C roads, with footpaths, unclassified roads and 35 new crossings earmarking the rest of the funding.

Here are all the candidates standing in Boston Castle for the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council elections on May 2:

Saghir Alam – Labour
Chris Bingham – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Ashiq Hussain – Independent
Cheryl Lynn Jones – Liberal Democrats
Tina Kumar – Local Conservatives
Sam Lilleker – Independent
Tony Mabbott – The Green Party
Aaliya Malik – The Green Party
Jeanette Mallinder – Labour
Phil Potholes – Independent
Mohammed Ramzan – Independent
Fakhri Saleh – Labour
Piyush Satyawadi – Local Conservatives
Anurag Singh – Local Conservatives
Taiba Yasseen – Independent

Yorkshireman stands for election under 'Phil Potholes' name after becoming fed up with the state of the roads