Council insist pothole problem is under control

ROAD repair teams are getting on top of pothole problems on Staffordshire’s highways following extra investment, the county council has said.

Hundreds of potholes have been repaired over the past few months, and a peak of more than 10,000 defects in May was reduced by 1,000 in two months, to around 9,000 by the end of July, a Staffordshire County Council committee heard last Wednesday.

There has also been a sharp decrease in media inquiries and ‘negative’ coverage of pothole issues, a report said. as well as a fall in comments on social media.

In response to a rise in defects, customer complaints and third-party claims for injury and damage related claims, the county council announced a £20m extra investment programme spanning four years.

In 2018/19 the council is investing an extra £5m in road repairs and improvements. Half the funds – £2.5m – are being spent on additional pothole repair teams, which are set to patch up more than 130,000 square metres of road – equivalent to around 30,000 individual potholes.

A further £2m is being added to the annual surface dressing programme, giving more than 300 miles of road pothole prevention treatment, and £500,000 has been earmarked for drainage improvements.

Councillor Helen Fisher, cabinet member for highways and transport, said there had been a backlog of “category 3 potholes” – those considered to be a lower risk to the public than category one or two defects which are given priority – following years of under-investment.”

“It’s those potholes that annoy people on a regular basis; everyone has their favourite pothole,” she said.

Councillor Mark Deaville, previous cabinet member for highways and transport, added: “With the resources we had, we were just about keeping on top of the repairs we had coming in.

“As Helen said, we didn’t have any resources to go into the category 3 defects that were never getting repaired. It got to the point where it was really serious with regards to our reputation across the county.

“Initially that extra £5m is to reduce the number of outstanding category 3s that before the investment were unlikely to be repaired at all.

“I think we have nailed the problem. I don’t think we will ever get to Utopia and billiard table roads but I think we have stopped the rot.”

The council expects to reduce the county’s pothole numbers to “a much more manageable range of 7,0008,000”, the report said.