Repair work will take place on 25 roads around Gloucestershire this month to help prolong their lives.

Gloucestershire County Council is investing £1.335 million on surface dressing, which will see more than 81km of county roads treated from July 19 - 30.

The council says surface dressing is an economical and commonly used way to extend the life of a road by sealing the surface against water and air, which causes damage to the road over time.

It also improves skid resistance and road safety because the chippings which are added to the bitumen binder give increased grip.

Surface dressing is for roads that are nearing the end of their life, but haven't yet started to fail. You can't apply surface dressings to roads that have deteriorated significantly, so this means that roads being treated may be in a better condition than some others in the county.

Cllr Vernon Smith, cabinet member for highways, said, "Surface dressing seals the road surface with bitumen and chippings. It's a great way of preventing potholes from appearing and we expect this work to save local taxpayers in future road repairs."

In the majority of cases, the road will be closed while the works take place, which will usually be for one or two days and short diversions will be in place.

Although the programme is published in advance, work can only be carried out in dry weather, so the schedule may need to change at short notice.