Pothole problem is costing millions

£10m a year cost of repairing pot holes in East Midlands

POTHOLES are costing East Midlands councils more than £10 million a year to repair as the country crumbles under craters, which combined, are almost four times the depth of the Pacific Ocean.

Last year across Leicestershire some 7,230 potholes were reported by the public with a total depth of 289m. The county council paid out £2,250 to drivers who claimed damage had been caused to their vehicle and spent a whopping £2.38 million on repairs.

Despite the alarming figures Leicestershire is regularly measured as one of the best highways authorities in the country.

Leicestershire County Councillor Blake Pain said recently that despite reductions in the environment and transport budget a national highways and transportation survey recognised the county as having the best road conditions in the county.

Currently the council is testing a system which aims to see customer reported potholes repaired within two weeks.

In the three years from 2012 to 2015 statistics show the council has reduced the number of potholes from 8,478 to 5,220 - a 38% decrease.

But with increasing pressure on finances there are warnings the region’s roads will deteriorate.

With that prospect in mind and the colder weather meaning pot- holes are more likely, insurance giant Confused. com has issued new research presented in a scrolling animation.

Based on results of a freedom of information request the cartoon shows the region’s 42,549 potholes reach a depth of almost 2km.

Nationally the problem is a staggering total pothole crevice of 40km - around 3.7 times the depth of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean and more than four times the size of Mount Everest.

Overall the UK has more than one million potholes.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com said: “Scrolling to depths of more than 40km really puts into perspective just how deep the UK’s pothole problem really is. They are a major bugbear among drivers, not least because of the damage they do to our vehicles - around £3.1 million worth of damage, which has been paid out by almost half of the UK’s councils.

“If drivers experience a bump in the road, they should report it to their local council as soon as possible before the problem gets any worse. The cost of motoring alone is getting more and more expensive and damage repairs is a big contributor to this, as car parts increase in price as well.”

Potholes can be reported to Leicestershire County Council via the website. This is the authority’s pothole policy:

“All potholes need to be classified, before repairs can be scheduled.

When a member of the public reports a pothole, we will ensure an inspector visits and classifies the problem within 14 days.

The pothole is classified according to how serious it is and this dictates how quickly it is fixed: Category 1 defects Require prompt attention as they represent an immediate or imminent hazard or a risk of shortterm structural deterioration.

These defects will be fixed or made safe at the time of inspection, if reasonably practicable.

If it’s not possible to fix or make the defect safe at time of inspection, repairs of a temporary, or permanent nature will be done within 3 working days. Category 2 defects Require attention, but do not represent an immediate or imminent hazard.

These defects have a target repair period of 90 calendar days from being reported by the public or will be included within a planned maintenance programme.”