Thermal technology that heats road surfaces up to 400 degrees Celsius is being trialled in Staffordshire to help fix more defects during the winter.

The Thermal Road Repairs machine is the latest piece of kit to be tested out by Staffordshire County Council as part of its highway maintenance work.

It uses thermal technology and solar power to heat up the road, enabling repair crews to re-lay the surface and add more bitumen where needed. And the re-use of existing Tarmac has been hailed as a way to cut down on waste.

Councillor David Williams, cabinet member for highways, said: "We're always on the lookout for new technology that helps our highways crews work smarter and makes the most out of our budget. This is just one of the many innovative machines we will be trialling this year, to make our road repairs more efficient and enable us to do more during the winter months."

Fellow members of Staffordshire County were told about the trial of the machine, supplied by Crewe-based Thermal Road Repairs, at their meeting on Wednesday (November 16). Council leader Alan White said: "Winter is on the way and it's the time of year when cold, wet weather damages our roads, and also makes repair work more challenging.

"It is great to hear that we are trialling a new thermal road repair machine that heats the road and reuses existing Tarmac Our road maintenance does continue throughout the winter months, but this often depends on the temperature and weather conditions.

"By heating up the road, this patching machine allows us to fix defects in some of the coldest conditions. If this trial is successful, this has the potential to help us step up our winter maintenance programme and fix more defects throughout the season, which will be excellent."

Earlier this year Staffordshire County Council tested out JCB's Pothole Pro on the area's roads. Stoke on Trent City Council worked with the Staffordshire firm to develop the new machine, which was unveiled last year and has been shown to complete a pothole repair in less than eight minutes – four times quicker than the traditional method.